Joxer the Mighty
by Fearforget
Summary: Joxer the Mighty has been keeping a secret. A secret that could destroy his friendship with Xena and Gabrielle. What could he be hiding?
1. Chapter 1

Xena the Warrior Princess just had too many men in front of her to stop Joxer from getting hurt this time. As usual, she hoped his ability to duck could save him from this ambush of soldiers. Gabrielle was taking care of herself, to Xena's relief and pride. She had to smile as she saw Gabrielle toss two guys into the air one after another, with loud "Oofs" as her wooden staff connected solidly with their midsections.

Then there were just too many—all wanting who knows what. These weren't the normal assassins that worked one at a time or maybe three to a group so they could easily split the bounty. Nor were they warlord's goons who wanted to stop Xena from getting in the way.

As far as she could tell, these were Ares' men. Now, that didn't make any sense at all, because most of Ares' warlords had a healthy respect of Xena mixed with a healthy sense of fear of getting their heads handed to them before they made an impression on Ares and landed the coveted number one spot. Ares had at least ten of them a month.

Soldiers like these were trickier than the average run of the mill thug who was too busy running headlong into her, which left perfect opportunity for her to flip behind them and push her sword through their guts. These were way more disciplined, wary, standing back and waiting for her to throw her chakram and then figure out the best way of getting around it or wait for her to make the opening attack.

Disciplined, strict, and just a bit paranoid.

Like she had thought, not the normal thug.

Which led to the question of why exactly twenty of Ares' men had decided to attack now.

Xena knew it wasn't Ares time to target her. Ever since the whole quill business half a year ago, he had been downright cuddly, only starting wars that she had to stop, never directly appearing and annoying her. He certainly didn't want her dead.

Besides, she thought as she yipped and jumped into the air, using the heads of these men to get up high, and then using the tree branches around to kick off and land in a full body slam. _They aren't aiming for me,_ she thought.

A bit of offense came with that thought. Ares couldn't have given up on her, so what was this, a training exercise?

If it was, Ares was stupider than he looked, as once again, she and Gabrielle made these guys start thinking of new careers, like opening up a petting zoo where the only thing that would kick them would be children. A retreat was ordered without words, as all the conscious goons understood that they had failed, and then they were gone.

"I'm a bit disappointed," Xena said out loud, making Gabrielle wrinkle her nose.

"Xena, those guys were some of the worst Ares has these days. Instead of gathering armies and taking villages, they chose to fight us, and you're disappointed?"

"If that was Ares' all-out attack, he should have sent more. A bit discourteous."

A sudden groan made them turn around to see that Joxer hadn't dodged well, this time.

"Joxer!" Gabrielle yelled and ran over to him. Xena followed, trying to make it look like she couldn't care less, but inside she was cursing. She should have been able to stop this from happening, no matter the chaos around. "I've never seen him so bad," she said, as she cradled him by the shoulders. "We need to get him to a hospice."

Xena agreed. There were multiple bruises on the usually laughing face of their friend, and many lacerations had split his skin. Even when Titus had him beat, he hadn't looked this bad. Xena had a lump to her throat. She had seen men with wounds less than these die. How would she explain this to Gabrielle?

She took the easy way out and didn't. It wouldn't be good to move Joxer, but considering that he would probably die anyway, why not play the game of pretend and let Gabrielle think the hospice would be a good choice. That damned lump in her throat! Why hadn't she stopped this?

With a whistle to Argo, she started pulling Joxer up on the side of her beige horse. Strange . . . Joxer looked a bit better. Maybe she had overestimated his injuries? They were still pretty bad, but he hadn't gotten the lacerations she had thought she had seen. Maybe he just had had a bloody nose.

Her heart leaped a bit at that thought. Maybe she hadn't made the deadly mistake she had thought she had. In about an hour's journey, where Joxer improved rapidly, they were at a hospice with Hestia as the main goddess, which made the building a domed house with soft cushions, warm baths and good if a bit bland food.

They set up Joxer in a bed and decided to let Hestia, who was actually on site for a change, tend to Joxer. Xena would have done it herself, but Joxer was conscious enough to beg Xena to just leave him alone. Still feeling a bit guilty about allowing this to happen, she readily agreed and she and Gabrielle went to enjoy the warm baths which Hestia offered freely.

Hestia was a pretty goddess—all goddesses were, but she had the down to earth beauty, almond colored hair and a round face that fit over a baking oven more than on Olympus. It was no wonder she didn't frequent the parties on Olympus. She was the goddess of hearth and home, and she fit there, not in royal robes. So all she wore at this time was a plain white dress with a beaded overlay.

Alone, Hestia shook her head and took the motherly approach to Joxer's wounds. With a clucking tongue she finally said, "Well, you'll be healed well enough in a few minutes. How long do you want me to keep Xena and Gabrielle away so you can pretend to be deathly ill?"

Joxer glared at her. "Hey, I like pretending that I am mortal, okay? Could you just . . . I don't know give them a diagnosis of me getting better in a month?"

"I have never understood this act of yours. Joxer the Mighty? You could defeat Hercules in battle and go toe-to-toe with Xena. I don't think you'd win, but still. You might make her nose bleed. Still, you go around acting like you can't even fight your way out of a papyrus sack."

Joxer sighed and lay his head back down, even though the bruises had disappeared and his face just looked a little smudged now. "You above all gods should know the pacifist's life," he noted. "This is the only way I have to get back at . . ."

"Your father. I know. So, you allowed fifteen men to use you as punching bag just to get back at him?"

"Three actually. Gabrielle and Xena were taking down the other seventeen." Then he broke into an irrepressible grin. "He thought by sending his best at me, I'd fight back. Ha! I wish I could have seen his face when the first goon nearly slit my throat."

"You're a masochist!" Hestia proclaimed.

"No. You know that the pain lasts maybe five seconds, an interesting sensation actually. I heal faster than anyone even Xena. Maybe once I'd like to see what being near death feels like, but most of the time all those blows . . . well, just tickle. Look at me, Hestia. I'm fine, and Ares lost power and self-respect. Win-win. Good old dad can't take it that I am not fighting back, and every time I don't, he is weaker. I love it." Joxer chortled, feeling better.

Hestia put one hand on his head and felt his forehead. "Half-god or no, you still need rest. Those wounds and healing them has sapped your energy." She hesitated and then glanced at Joxer. "Do you think you'll ever tell Xena and Gabrielle?"

"That I am Ares' son? That this whole 'I'm a clumsy doofus" act is just that? That I have lied to them and everyone else since I met them? No, I don't think so. Xena would never understand and would push me, in her own way without realizing it, back into the service of Ares. Gabrielle might understand, but I can't bear the expression on her face when she realized all the times that I got them into scrapes that I could have prevented it. It's the worst thing I've ever done, Hestia. Because of my way of life, both have nearly died many times, and I could have helped them. How do I ever admit that? No . . . it's best that I stay in their eyes Joxer the Mighty."

Hestia nodded and then was about to leave Joxer to rest when she looked at him one last time. "It's funny how many times you told them the exact truth to their faces, and they never believed it. You are the greatest warrior who ever lived. You have bathed in a tub of blood. I can remember someone calling you Bloody Joxer, and what else?"

"It's easy to tell the truth when you're an idiot. No one ever believes you." Joxer looked sad and closed his eyes. "I will never forget what I was . . . I will always try to atone by being the idiot. Can you leave me, Hestia? I'd like to rest."

"I'll tell Xena and Gabrielle to move on tomorrow," Hestia said and left the room.

Joxer felt a solitary tear slide down his face, as he remembered his history, a history that would make Callisto blush, as the son of the God of War had committed many crimes. Now, he was Joxer the Mighty, desperately trying to be something that was harmless, to help people in his own way.

He'd never let Xena and Gabrielle find out, ever.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

The problem with getting beat up within an inch of your life and then healing fast was it pretty much knocked you out, Joxer decided, as once again he fell into a deep sleep. Then he woke with the feeling of swords and blood, with the feeling of _war_.

"Oh, great," he said. "Haven't I suffered enough recently?" he asked out loud as Ares the God of War appeared in a shower of sparks. With a glare, Ares took in the quickly healing but still a little wounded form of his son.

"You are pathetic, you know that?" Ares said, gesturing a chair into existence so he could sit next to his son.

"No, you're the one who's pathetic, Ares," Joxer said, struggling to sit up. He hated lying down when Ares was there: it made him feel weak. "Did you really think I'd start fighting again just because you sent goons at me?"

"It was a fool's hope. What's left for a father whose son has abandoned everything he taught him? And why don't you call me father anymore? You used to call me daddy, remember?"

"That was before the endless crimes, _Ares_ ," Joxer said, giving Ares a glare that matched. "Now would you get out of here?"

"No. I want to know what it is going to take. Jett is in prison. I don't like talking about Jace. You are the last great hope of our future. I always imagined it, Joxer. Xena leading my world, and you her right hand lieutenant."

"Oh, stop, you're making me so tempted. I've heard it all before, Ares. It took me a long time to feel just a bit good about myself. I won't return to that fighting, no matter what you offer, or who you send at me," he finished with a pointed look.

Ares sighed. One could not see the resemblance between the two: Joxer had gotten a lot of his mother's looks. He seemed as scrawny as a sapling tree, until he lifted a chariot into the sky. But the similar glares and animosity, covering the unintentional father and son love, showed the familial connection. No one could have looked more alike than they did in that moment.

Ares tried again. "I don't understand why you're so angry with me. I taught you to be my ultimate destroyer. Gods trembled at your feet. Remember the hind blood?"

"Yeah . . . You almost got the last of the golden hinds named Serena until Hercules forced you to turn her mortal, but you had already bled her quite a bit, hadn't you?"

"With that blood, you could have owned Olympus!" Ares said, standing up and yelling with his passion. "We could have stopped Hera and her crimes. Ended Zeus' reign. Finished all the petty wars among the gods. We could have had a new era."

"After killing everyone who worshipped those gods. My goodness, Ares, the same spiel over and over again. You'd think you'd get tired of it," Joxer said shaking his head. He cocked his ear. "Oh no." Then he punched himself hard in the face.

"What are you doing?" Ares said angrily. "You'll bruise yourself all over again."

"Xena and Gabrielle didn't leave yet. Gabrielle is coming to visit me."

"Hmm, is she so important to you?" Ares said getting a gleam in his eyes. "What is about that blonde that makes you and Xena so distracted?"

"Get out of here!" Joxer hissed, punching himself again.

"I can tell when I've overstayed my welcome. Besides I've got a new idea. Rest well, you little pacifist." Then he disappeared as Gabrielle entered through the alcove.

"Hey, Joxer, how you feeling?" she asked gently.

"Bruised," Joxer answered honestly.

"I know," she said gently, and held up a cloth. "I thought I'd help Hestia a little." She looked him over as she put the cool cloth to his bruises. "You're healing well. I guess staying in Hestia's hospice was a good idea."

"Yeah, except as a warrior, it goes against my very nature to be in this place of peace!" Joxer said.

"Oh, Joxer," Gabrielle said and then a tear came to her eye. "I'm so sorry I wasn't able to stop this from happening to you.

The familiar guilt wrapped around Joxer's heart. But then again, he wasn't sure if it ever left. What was he doing to her? The woman he loved? He should have stayed away from both of them, but the truth was he just couldn't. Gabrielle just reminded him of why he had stayed like this, why he allowed people to hit him more than hit back. The world just seemed a bit brighter when she gave him that smile of hers.

"Hey, I wanted to be there," Joxer said. "Besides I'm used to violence. It's the choice warriors make. I didn't even feel the punches."

"I just wish I knew why those warriors attacked us," she said, always thinking. "It doesn't fit together."

Joxer chewed on his lip. It wasn't good when she started asking questions. Sometimes he wondered why she hadn't put it all together in the first place. "I think they were after me. I was their target."

Gabrielle covered an eye roll, but Joxer saw it and grinned. Still so easy to tell the truth when they didn't believe you. "Joxer, you know it was Xena they were after. I'm just wondering what Ares' plan was."

"Shouldn't you and Xena get out of here?" Joxer asked, changing the subject. "I'm not sure why you're still here."

Gabrielle stared at him, those eyes burning a hole in his heart. "Come on, Joxer. Neither I nor Xena would leave when you're like this."

"But . . . you've got to!" Joxer said, almost desperately. He had no desire to stay in this sick bed, punching himself every day in order to appear like he's healing normally. He supposed he could have lied and said Hestia healed him, but with all the gods, yes, even with the one of hearth and home, there was always a price to pay. He'd have to be pretty desperate to go that route. "Xena can't redeem herself staying here!"

"Joxer, as I found out pretty recently, when it comes to redemption, Xena's friends come first."

"I'm fine! Look," he said, trying not to cringe inside. "I'm healed! Hestia healed me." Then he jumped out of bed and started singing, "I'm Joxer the Mighty, master of the healing arts, goddesses heal me, even when they dislike me . . ."

"Joxer," Gabrielle interrupted, "this is wonderful. What did you have to promise Hestia?"

"Nothing. Really!"

"Then she really is as kind as I have heard," Gabrielle said with a smile and then hugged Joxer. Ah, these moments were what he lived for. Gabrielle was always affectionate with him. Too bad it was only a friendly hug. Still, it was hard enough to be just friends with her with this secret. He was lucky she didn't feel more for him.

"So, see, you both need to get back to traveling."

"You're not coming?"

"Still a bit tired, Gabby." He lied down again. "But there's no reason for you to worry. Go on, you have that warlord that's heading towards Potidaea to worry about."

"You're sure?" she asked, placing the healing cloth on a table next to his bed. She poked him a few times to make sure he was really alright.

"Ow!" he said. "Geez, Gabby, you're worse than a sword!"

Gabrielle laughed and shook her head. "Okay, it seems you're really okay. We'll head out soon, as soon as Xena checks on Argo." Then she just shook her head and left.

"Yep," Joxer said watching her leave. "Way worse than a sword."

Then Hestia appeared. "So . . . I have a favor to ask," she said with a knowing grin.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

It only took a couple hours for Joxer to feel better and be on the road again, but now he had that favor to Hestia. She wasn't like the normal gods, so there was no quest for a magical item or fighting in a war or anything like that. For some reason, all she wanted him to do was deliver a Pegasus to Fortune, the goddess of luck.

So, up in the air, and trying not to get hit by the whipping wings of the white horse, he felt pretty much like he was let off the hook easily. If it had been Ares or Athena, this would have been a worse, much worse favor.

Suddenly his eyes fell on a fire in a village not far north of Amphipolis. Maybe a detour would be in order. He would have to do it like an idiot, but he certainly could help with that fire.

"Down, boy," he said.

The Pegasus snorted and listened, but halfway down, Joxer fell over the side and started whining, "Help, I'm on the wrong end!"

Then he landed to see a strange sight. No one was running towards the fire. There were no alarm bells or people screaming. It seemed that the biggest building in town was on fire . . . and it was an orphanage. Oh no!

"Uh, hi," he said to a kneeling person. In fact a lot were kneeling and just watching the fire grow. "The Pegasus ran off with me. But I Joxer the Mighty will help your poor village. Let's get a fire brigade. Come on, let's save those kids!"

The person he talked to looked at him with lazy eyes. "No . . . it's not the will of Paci. We will do nothing."

Joxer heard the screams of the children inside the building, terrified of the flames. "You're not going to help?" He couldn't believe it.

"Paci is the god of pacifists."

"I've never heard of him."

"He does nothing but meditate in his temple. He has no wish to get engaged in the gods' disputes or problems."

"That building is on fire!" Joxer yelled, for a second losing his goofy act and letting his temper show. "Get up!"

"We will let it burn," another said, practically asleep. "That is the way of the pacifist."

Joxer felt a sickening feeling jump into his heart. Suddenly, the worst thing in the world he could have ever thought hit his stomach. Ares was right.

"A pacifist only doesn't fight," Joxer said quickly trying to rectify that thought.

"You're lying to yourself, Joxer," the pacifist said. "Doing anything is contributing to the violence of the world, because living is violent. Being born is violent. Eating is violent. Even if you are a vegetarian, grain has to die to fill your stomach. Doing nothing is the only alternative."

"That's annihilation," Joxer said agape.

"That's pacifism," he retorted and then went back to watching the fire engulf the building. Joxer would get no help here. There was no fire brigade or volunteers, there was no care!

There was no help for it. He would have to do it himself. Luckily, if he showed his real strength here, no one would care enough to tell anyone. They would just stay here, kneeling.

Once, Joxer had been in a village when Hercules decided to use the water tower to dump on the fire. It had worked but had lost the water of the village for a whole week, and left it in a serious drought. But then again, Joxer had way more skills than Hercules. Good old Herc was just strong, not Mighty.

Running towards the nearby lake, Joxer ran his fastest, utilizing the Ares blood in him, concentrating on only that as he ran around in a circle, causing a waterspout to appear around him. Keeping it around him took all his concentration. One second of loss would make him lose it all around. With the same speed he ran back towards the building on fire, finally letting the waterspout fall right on top of the flames.

Then he too collapsed. That had been far from easy. He didn't like using his Ares blood too often, and his mortal blood rebelled against it. But at least it did the trick. The fire evaporated into steam, and the children inside started cheering him. They were too young to be pacifists, so they ran out and started jabbering a million words a second, while the adults, still kneeling, just sighed. It was amazing they had even had these children. Then again . . . he didn't see any children besides these orphans. He wondered what had happened to this village.

"Alright," a voice boomed, "who put the fire out?!"

Joxer looked up to see the biggest, ugliest warlord he had ever seen. It wasn't one of Ares'. This guy breathed of Athena. He even had her symbol tattooed across his face. This guy could fit two Hercules inside him. The animal furs draped against his back and side only made him look bigger.

He loomed towards Joxer. "You! How'd the fire get out?"

"He put it out!" one of the little girls proclaimed. "He's a hero, you monster!"

"Hey, quiet down there, little girl," Joxer said. "I did nothing."

"So, you a pacifist?"

Yes was on the tip of his tongue, but as he looked around at these people, who still didn't move, who didn't take care of the children, who had allowed the orphanage to be set on fire, somehow he couldn't call himself that anymore.

"No, I am not a pacifist. I am Joxer the Mighty. You want to explain why you set that building on fire?"

"To finish off the lot of them. See, I killed all their parents, because the rest of these idiots wouldn't fight. These kids' parents had raised a fight but were way outnumbered." He grinned a hideous grin with perfect teeth. Athena must have really blessed this guy so he had kept his teeth this whole time.

"You attacked them because they weren't worshipping Athena?"

"What gave you that idea? Athena's okay with old Paci. He does nothing. I attacked because it was fun. These idiots don't do anything, so if I want to burn off some steam without anybody fighting back, I come here. They are really useless, aren't they?"

Joxer was beginning to think so. There had to be thousands of people in this village, and before this guy came along, there had to have been more. Not to mention the fact that Amphipolis wasn't that far away, so they could have easily asked Xena for help as neighbors. But they did nothing as this guy slaughtered their neighbors and then each of them one by one. This guy got his kicks by burning children to the ground, and yet they did nothing.

Suddenly, Joxer didn't want to be a pacifist anymore. It was time to fight. He certainly wouldn't go back to what he was before, but it was time to make a stand. He took two steps forward, removed his hat, and drew his sword.

He reflected for a second how much his sword helped with his act. Overly long and kind of stupid looking, it was like him: totally hidden talent. It was sharper than a griffon's claws and never rusted.

Hephaestus himself had given it to Ares it, who ever so lovingly gave it to Joxer as a birthday present, when he was seven years old.

His seventh birthday was always memorable as the time he had almost cut his own eye out.

"You're going to fight me?" the warlord said and guffawed. Joxer knew he didn't look the part of a hero.

"Appearances can be deceiving," he said and proceeded to teach him that very painful and long lesson. By the end, the warlord was running out of the village calling for his mother, who hopefully would give him a sound spanking when he returned to her.

Joxer felt . . . well, great. He hadn't fought for so long. Every single time a fight had happened, he had to run and keep running, always asking Xena or Hercules for help or even, one time, Iolaus, the little sidekick of Hercules. Never had he been able to tell the truth about who he was or what he could do. This felt . . . amazing.

The greatest thing was that he hadn't killed anyone. He hadn't destroyed lives. He had saved them. After all, useless or not, these people didn't deserve to be slaughtered. For the first time in his life, he hadn't fought in Ares service. Maybe there was another way of going. Maybe he had been going about this redemption thing all wrong. He should have listened to Xena's way. Running had felt awful. Fighting for the greater good had felt transforming.

With a grin, Joxer said good-bye to the children, and hoped the adults had been inspired, but if he didn't get the Pegasus to Fortune, then he could be punished. It was an old rule of the gods, older than the titans. If a god, whether half or not, reneged on a deal, he or she would be horribly punished in a way that fit the transgression. Joxer didn't want to think about that. Maybe he'd be turned into Pegasus and made to fly for Fortune for a year. No way!

So, he flew Pegasus to Fortune, having to just leave the horse outside, as Fortune was hiding from him—she had never forgiven him for his past crimes—and was already imagining finding Xena and Gabrielle to tell them about his true nature. Maybe he'd run in super-fast and take out that warlord. Or maybe he'd jump in when Gabrielle needed help.

He could see that picture vividly in his mind. The look on Gabrielle's face would be priceless. Maybe it would turn from the normal friendly one to a one of love, the same way she had looked at Perdicas when she married him.

He could practically hear Xena thanking him for her help, could see Gabrielle smile when she realized she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. He started running faster . . .

Only to be tripped and splayed across the landscape by the foot of no other than his father.

"Going somewhere, son? I have a few words I'd like to say to you. I'm not sure you'll be smiling so widely soon."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

For once Joxer was actually happy to see Ares. It would be fun to gloat. Despite the hefty punch he had to give him for tripping him, he was more than ready to talk to him. It would be nice to tell him that he was going to team up with Xena and make the world a better place, by _not_ doing Ares' plan of destroying everything and remaking the world from its own ashes.

But then again, Ares was awfully smug, as if he already knew everything. And he wasn't hanging his head at an Olympus bar sniffing up the latest ambrosia drink. This was bad news. Ares should have been miserable! After all, he had to know Joxer wouldn't allow him to continue his plans of world domination, would stop any and all warlords that were trying to kill Hercules or destroy other gods' temples.

So why did he look so happy?

"Ares . . .," Joxer said casually.

"Joxer," he said cordially. "Having a good day, I see. Was it because you just defeated Lanka?"

"Athena's goon . . . so you were watching me."

"Hey, I know when my son is fighting. I am the God of War. That man was really Athena's number one. She usually has a bit more honor when it comes to wars, but she cut Lanka a lot of slack because he was so good. When that village of Drama became worshippers of Paci, he decided to start destroying it. There were a few fighters, but not enough to tangle with Lanka.

"After murdering those kids' you saved parents, he still hadn't quenched his thirst for their blood. He returned from time to time, but everyone just let him kill them. So, he tried the approach of destroying the orphans. He thought maybe _that_ would get a spark of interest in fighting. It was a little too easy to just stab someone who knelt in front of you—no sport, you see."

"Ares, thank you so much for that history lesson. Do I look like I care? All I need to know is that I stopped him. He won't worship Athena or even sit normally ever again."

"Well, I just thought I'd let you know that Paci is one of the nastiest gods on Olympus, if he ever bothered to move, that is, and visit Olympus. Aha, you snort! You think such a pathetic god is incapable of being a threat? Let me teach you another lesson, my son.

"War, which you hate so much, is a dangerous force, but peace can also be the same. When there is too much peace, evil people destroy and win the day. That is what Paci represents."

Joxer sighed and decided to start making a fire for lunch. This looked as if it was going to take a while. Ares loved speeches. He removed his hat, which he was still wearing by habit. He would have to get rid of it. It made him look just a little too goofy for his new image. Then he started gathering wood, with Ares following him and still talking.

"Peace, you see, can be a bad thing. Paci has certain kind of powers. Doing nothing means he can get the most amazing powers in the world. Sure, even I tried that once."

Joxer's jaw dropped, as he tossed the firewood into a heap and knocked stones together to start a fire. "You were peaceful?!"

"Don't get me wrong, son. I still was for war. There is a loophole, which Paci uses on occasion. He taught me how to do nothing and send your consciousness into the universe. I inhabited a monster and fought Hercules. I took over a dead body and fought Hercules. I took over an upstart prince and . . ."

"Fought Hercules, I get it. Get to the point." Joxer was getting tired of this. He had already hunted down a rabbit, skinned it, and was roasting it, and Ares was just getting warmed up.

"Well, at any rate, I got bored of it and decided to take a more personal approach from then on. My point is that when Paci and I were talking, he told me of what that power gains. See, if anyone fights in his presence who is connected to war, like Athena or . . . me or oh I don't know, my _son . . ._ "

Joxer's eyes widened and he let the food fall to the ground. Suddenly he got a really bad feeling. This whole thing had been a trap . . . "You knew I'd let myself be beaten."

"Yes, I did. I even knew that Xena and Gabrielle wouldn't abandon you if there were no enemy to fight to get revenge from like that time with Titus. They had no revenge because the goons just disappeared. I also knew that the closest healing place was Hestia's. Hmm, I also knew that Hestia planned to give a Pegasus to Fortune, whose temple just happened to be really close to the village of Drama. Yes, as you might have expected I planned all this. I had to do something. You were just wasting away as Joxer the Mighty, but I knew that one day this day would come."

"Which day?" Joxer demanded standing up and staring his father right in the face.

"The day when you would go Xena's path. I decided to preempt it, because I can't have both of you fighting against me— _for_ me, yes, great, but not against. And after the whole Titus incident I saw a change in you. Sure, you'll deny it, but your pride along with your ego was hurt. Topping that with a wounded Gabrielle fighting in your stead and both Xena and Gabrielle practically crying about your state of being . . . it was only a matter of time, and I hate waiting."

"So, I decide to fight back for a change . . . and I am cursed. And let me guess you also told Lanka to start that fire."

"Well, I had to pretend to be Athena—I never liked doing that, but hey for the . . . what was it Xena likes saying? For the greater good."

"You wouldn't know anything about good!" Joxer yelled, his temper at an end. "So, what is it? How am I cursed? Will I go mad and kill people? Will I turn into an echo? Will I turn into a giant spider? What is it? What have I doomed myself to?"

"To being Joxer the Mighty. You might want to pick up that hat again, because you're going to need it. See, Paci hates fighters, so he had a sadistic way of getting back at them if they were connected with War. If he condemned them, it would be a worthy risk for a warrior, just part of the job of being a fighter. If, however, he condemned others, that was fitting and kind of fun."

Joxer's heart, which had already been sinking, fell into his boots. "Others?"

"You can never fight again, unless you want others to pay for it. Any time anyone sees Joxer the Mighty fight, your face, your body, they will drop dead in an instant. Oh, and I do mean everyone, such as Gabrielle and Xena, your best friends. If they even find out about it from another source, they'll die. So, no union with Xena. No fighting team, and more importantly, only Xena fighting against me. And with no allies, she'll get pretty sick of being alone. Then she will return to the Xena I know so much better, the evil Xena."

Joxer collapsed on the ground. It was all over. The fantasy he had been building in his head evaporated like a bubble on water. It would always be the same with him. He had cursed himself.

"There is a way out, of course," Ares said with a wicked gleam in his eyes as he crouched down next to Joxer and tilted Joxer's head up to look in his eyes. "I can break Paci's spell. War can always break the peace. But you have to ask me, and you know what that means."

I hope that the reader can forgive Joxer for the moment of considering Ares' offer: no more hiding, and he could still fight for good. He'd just have to do a favor for Ares . . . and he knew what that'd be, to serve him again, to continue his blazing trail of blood and corpses. After all, Ares had the same idea for peace . . .

Joxer suddenly slapped himself mentally. He would not listen to Ares' idea for the world. If he had to suffer, so be it, but he wouldn't trade the world for his own happiness. He shook himself out of his father's grip and stood up. With a proud expression, he placed the hat back on his head and started singing, "Oh, I'm Joxer the Mighty, I'm always an idiot, never can be stopped, nor listen to his old pop. I'm for peace, I'm the golden fleece. I'm Joxer the Mighty!"

"Joxer, don't do this," Ares said, actually looking shocked. "I'm your father. You're my son. Don't fight me."

With a mighty spin around, Joxer popped his pop right on the nose, laying him flat. "See, no one was around," Joxer said with his glare and started traveling again. Joxer the Mighty was alive and well.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five

It took about six months for Joxer to get sick of his act. Sure, it was fine when he was a pacifist to run and keep ducking, trying to find Xena, but when he had made the choice to fight actually, it was pure torture. Having to watch as Gabrielle threw Hope into the firepit, having to just dangle there as a meal for Hope's monster destroyer and his half-brother.

He was about at the end of his patience. Joxer started considering just finding a place to settle down, honestly. How much more could he stand not fighting? It was a good thing that Xena and Gabrielle had the luck of the gods on their side, even with this new prophecy of the death vision hanging over their pretty heads. If they had actually died, while he just sat there . . . it would have killed him as well.

There was a small benefit though to looking like an idiot, and Joxer discovered it in battle right after Xena had killed the destroyer and that monster had killed Hope. Only about an hour after starting to journey again, a warlord had come upon them, and Joxer had accidentally tripped and fell into said warlord, knocking him into a ditch. As he watched the hapless soul rolling repeatedly down the cliff into a big stream, he had waited for both Xena and Gabrielle to die on the spot.

But they didn't.

So, it wasn't a perfect curse. He had to actually appear to know what he was doing to get the spell to be activated. So, Joxer the Mighty and his deadly clumsiness attacked! Still, it was best not to be tempted. The blood in him from Ares boiled for a real fight, and he couldn't afford to be tempted.

So, Joxer stayed away from Gabrielle and Xena these days. Besides he heard that Xena was in prison, probably trying to stop an uprising or something. There was no way she'd actually be in jail because someone threw her in there! After that they'd probably be off trying to figure out ways to stop the death vision, a pointless task if you asked Joxer. They would probably be fine in one way or another. Joxer thought he himself would die before either of them did for real.

One day, he was doing his normal wandering when he begged a ride from a traveling merchant. He was a strange sort, a huge beard across a grinning face, and he automatically offered him a toga. As if Joxer would wear such a thing.

"It's the latest craze! Even Hercules looked interested before completely turning me down, huh?"

"Hercules doesn't have the best fashion sense," Joxer said, feeling miserable a bit. He couldn't go and talk to Xena and Gabrielle, and he couldn't fight. Being reminded that Hercules could do both and was praised for it made him frown.

"Turn that frown upside down. If togas aren't your thing," he said and rummaged in a bag as the horses galloped on.

"Uh, watch the road," Joxer said but didn't care if the whole thing ended in a ditch.

"Salmoneus has your wardrobe. Give him a chance!"

"Who's Salmoneus?"

"I am!" He gave a big grin and pulled out a weird cape/robe combo followed by a mask of all things. "Here you go, better than an invisibility cloak for hiding your form."

"A what?"

"Fashion is passing you by, my boy. Listen to this: Confuse your enemies! Alarm your friends. Mask your presence. Want to raid a village and have no one find out who it was? Wear the Salmoneus Deluxe Triple Play. Rob the Athenian Banks? They'll never know who to look for. All this is yours for the low, low cost of one hundred dinars."

Joxer's head had snapped up. Yes, he had no desire to rob the Athenian Banks or raid a village, but he was itching for a fight, and the spell of Paci had its holes. As Joxer, he could fight clumsily, but to all out fight he couldn't do as himself without people dying.

As someone else, however . . .

"I'll take ten!" Joxer said for the first time in a long while feeling happy.

Salmoneus looked doubtful. "My friend, do you have a thousand dinars?"

"Me, oh please. I'm rich."

Suddenly, his own grin was matched by Salmoneus'.

"Sir, you have my deepest friendship."

"And you have mine. I really owe you a debt. Is there any way I can repay you?"

"Besides the loads of dinars? I can't think of anything." Then he started humming a strange tune.

"Hmm, I think I might be able to repay you," Joxer said. "You ever wanted lyrics to that tune?"

"Tell me more," Salmoneus said and the wagon continued its trek. When it ended, Joxer was ten outfits heavier, and Salmoneus was singing his new tune complete with words, both happy as clams. Joxer didn't know if this idea would work, but it was a pretty cool one, and if it did, he'd be saved. He could satisfy his Ares blood by fighting as a masked man, and with Xena and Gabrielle he could be safe with just fighting as his fool persona, never being tempted for more.

So, he quickly found a tree to hide behind just in case any travelers came along and put on his new Salmoneus Deluxe Triple Play. He squeezed the mask on; he slipped into the robe and carefully made sure his cape was flowing and not tangling. He checked out his appearance in a pond that was nearby.

He looked like a dork.

He looked worse than with his hat. No one wore masks and capes except villains! He would be laughed out of the hero academy.

"That's okay," he said to himself. "I'll just remind people I am a hero! Wait, a name . . . I need a name. I am Hercules! No, it's taken. Supergod! No . . . Batgod!" His outfit did make him look like a bat. Nah . . . He thought back to his mother. He hadn't thought about her in a long while. She hadn't been a warlord's wife, whatever he told Gabrielle and Autolycus. She had been the most peaceful woman, and she wanted him to be peaceful. It hadn't taken . . . but he could honor her one more time. She had called him her little Lockinus, a word in her order (whatever order that was) that meant peaceful.

"I am now Lockinus the Hero."

Complete with his outfit that covered up body and face, he ran towards a village of Ares. Okay, he didn't run like a god. He had to save his strength, so he ran like a mortal. This village was ruled by the three Maggot brothers, and yes that was their real name. They had become Ares' number one about three months ago and had taken a village south of Athens, too far away for the Athenian army to show interest, but close enough if the Maggot brothers wanted to get supplies. So far Hercules was off somewhere, mourning Iolaus' death (Joxer didn't know why about that either; knowing Hercules and Iolaus, Iolaus would also come back from the dead), so he hadn't stopped the Maggots, and Xena had the death vision consuming her life.

So, the Maggots had gotten arrogant.

Lockinus the Hero would change that and their faces.

With slight trepidation, he entered the town. If he was wrong about this, many innocents would die. There were still people here, turned slaves for the Maggots. He didn't want to kill anyone . . . but he needed to try this.

He saw a large gong in the middle of the village, its use meant for calling town meetings and the sort. Joxer picked up the ivory handled and curved hammer and smashed wildly into the gong's face (it just happened to have a face of Ares engraved on it, so Joxer got great pleasure in striking it repeatedly).

It didn't take long for the Maggots to show up. And, boy, were they ugly. Multiple scars and faces not even a mother could love.

"Who's ringing our gong?" the oldest demanded.

"Lockinus the Hero!" Joxer said, covering his fear. This had to work . . . didn't it?

"You go around calling yourself Lockinus the Hero?" the middle brother asked. "That's stupid. And what's with the mask if you're a hero?"

"It's very comfortable. More heroes should wear them. Hercules would look great in one."

"Uh huh. What do you want?"

"Your heads, Maggots. You have one choice. Leave this village or suffer . . . I mean or die." He made sure to cover his voice. Now he sounded like he was talking out of tunnel.

All the brothers looked at each other and then started guffawing. Great, he was still being laughed at. _That's not important,_ he scolded himself.

"So, your choice is to laugh? Wrong choice." Then Lockinus the Hero showed what having the blood of Ares in his veins was all about. In minutes, he was juggling the three brothers, knocking them silly, making them cry, rubbing their faces in the dirt and making them wish they had chosen differently.

The most important thing was . . . when the villagers who previously had been under lockdown and too afraid of coming out started peeking out their windows and saw this beatdown, all they did was cheer. They didn't die. Paci's spell was all over him. He could feel it whimpering, but it couldn't do anything. No one knew that Joxer was the one fighting. Everyone had heard him introduce himself as Lockinus.

The Maggots ran screaming out of the village, and everyone started cheering. "Let's build him a shrine!"

"Well, yeah," Joxer said and then thought of Ares. "I mean, no, no shrines! I'm a hero. If you meet anyone, tell them Lockinus the son of Ares the God of War is fighting for justice, truth, and the . . . um never mind. I protect this village now. If you ever have problems, let me know."

People threw flowers at him and invited him to stay for meals, but a thought hit Joxer. This mask covered his entire face. He wouldn't be able to eat with them. It was a tad lonely . . . but with this curse on him, it was the best he could have. And he wouldn't bemoan his fate, not when he suddenly seemed to have it all.

He just wished he had someone he could share this all with. Jett would _not_ understand, and Jace . . . well, Jace didn't understand who Joxer was in the first place. There was no one. With that thought pushed away—he wouldn't become a complainer—he bid good-bye to the villagers, and started his lonely trek to another town, where Lockinus would take over while Hercules was out of Greece and while Xena had that death vision.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six

It was a warm enough day already without the layers of cloak and cape that Joxer stood in, under the unbearable sun. The heat radiated off the mask he wore. He may be a half god, but the natural sun still gave him a lot of problems.

Still, he had chosen this path for a very specific reason. The reason was based on the fact that Joxer couldn't just waltz into Ares' temple. No one did that, except Joxer, and that would give away his whole plan. After defeating the Maggots, Joxer had decided that the best way to really know if his disguise worked (before fighting in front of Xena and Gabrielle) was to try it out in front of the man who had known Joxer his entire life.

So, he found this spot that had at least six pillars around, rising up into the sky and practically piercing the ground. Dust and dirt rose up around him, causing the heat mirages to wiggle in the afternoon air. This was the path that Ares would take walking. Normally the God of War would just disappear and appear at will, but when he was taking this route, normal god powers didn't work.

It was the only way to get in touch with the armies on the border of Rome. Ares became Mars when he entered these lands, and in order to get his powers to start appearing here, he had to walk in, and let the powers of the border passing change him from Ares God of War in Greece into Mars the God of War in Rome.

He once had explained to Joxer (the most boring lesson he had ever received) about the powers of the land and of the people who believed in him. So, Ares would walk, pass the border, and his powers would remain very similar to the ones in Greece. That's why he liked Rome. In Egypt for example, he wouldn't have the same powers. He might lose them totally.

Finally, just as the sun started acting as if it'd like to burn Joxer right through the mask, Ares showed. Joxer had to admit, even though he hated him now, that Ares did what he needed to do. There was no horse or chariot. It was just him, having had walked since he arrived in this land. He always did everything with style.

Ares suddenly noticed Joxer, and it would have bugged Joxer if he hadn't. Joxer had only chose to pose with his sword straight out, his knee down on the ground in the best warrior pose he could muster, and his hand had been beckoning for hours.

"A warrior?" Ares said.

Great! He couldn't tell his aura. That meant the cloak was heavy enough to block sense.

"I see you want to fight the God of War. Don't be foolish. I'm really quite busy."

"I am your son," Joxer said, trying to keep his voice in disguise. If he could fool Ares, he might be able to fool Xena as well.

Ares paused and shrugged. "I have over a thousand. What makes you so special?"

"I am Lockinus the Hero."

"I care," Ares retorted. "If you think I should have some kind of familial obligation, then you don't know me at all. Move, before I make you move."

Then Joxer pulled his best moves and started fighting Ares, who quickly drew his own sword and faced off against his opponent, under that beating sun. Joxer had sparred with his father before. So, he expected the normal fight. But it seemed that his father had gone easy on him before.

This Lockinus was nobody to Ares, just one of his upstart sons he couldn't care less about. It hit Joxer as he blocked blow after blow: Ares had chosen him. He hadn't just wanted to bond with a son. He wanted his destroyer.

Finally, after a fight that seemed unable to be won, Joxer pulled his last resort move and kneeled down, waiting for Ares to come in for the blow. When he did, Joxer used Ares' body as momentum, jumped over his head and kicked him twice in the back, sending the God of War face first into the dirt.

He turned over with a glare, but a curious one. "Who are you? No one can fight that well."

"Well, I have been training for this my whole life," Joxer said and removed his mask. It was gratifying to see Ares' jaw drop.

"What in the world are you doing? Playing dress up?"

"Fighting as someone other than Joxer the Mighty, Ares. Just wanted to check if anyone could tell who I really was. Good, it works."

"Oho, so this is your plan!" Ares said. He stood up with his face in a scowl, but Joxer saw something he had rarely seen in his father's eyes. There was a small glimmer of pride in there. "You get past Paci's curse and still fight. Well, have your fun. I am not worried."

"You should be. This way I can still fight alongside Xena. We can still end your crusades."

"Why would you want to do that?" Ares asked, honestly looking confused. Joxer would have felt sorry for him if he wasn't such a jerk. "Look, play your fighting games. No one trusts someone in a mask, especially Xena. She might accept help in battle, but I do doubt she would ever team up with you to take me down. Besides, I admit I panicked before. Then I realized I have so many warlords, temples, armies, vast supplies of weapons and more. Two against an army may win, but two against a thousand armies? Let's just say I am not worried about Lockinus the Hero.

"But nice job on getting past Paci's curse. I do have to say I trained you well."

Then Ares shook his head and walked off, chuckling.

"Nice try, Ares," Joxer said under his breath. He could tell, even despite Ares' demeanor, that Ares was worried. He would be a worst enemy than before to Joxer. There was something he had to do to ensure that Ares wouldn't just be able to go and tell anyone he saw that Joxer was a fighter and leave them dead behind them.

Justice was a blind god who lived in a swamp for some reason. He wore hermit's robes and trudged through endless paths covered completely with stinky water. He of course knew Joxer was coming and didn't bother to make a path at all, so Joxer's robes would need changing and cleaning before long.

"Come on, Justice," Joxer said as he squelched his boots across the endless mud. "Why do I have to search for you?"

"The path to Justice is a long and uncomfortable one," Justice's voice boomed out from across the way, as he stood there, waiting for Joxer to arrive at his door. "That's why mortals usually give up."

"I won't give up. Besides you must know why I've come. Paci's law isn't exactly just."

"No . . . but my powers don't reach very far these days. Would you like some tea when you arrive at my temple?"

"Tea?!" Joxer asked and scoffed inwardly at the word temple for the God of Justice. His temple was a mound of earth and clay, growing millions of different soggy plants out of it, until they dropped down and took over the whole area. One couldn't even tell it was anything more than a hole in the ground. In fact it kind of resembled a Hobbit hole, if Hobbit holes were gross, full of bugs and smelly as high Olympus.

"It has raspberries in it . . .," Justice added cajolingly.

"Aright fine, and little biscuits with honey," Joxer decided.

Finally, Joxer just started running. It would be worth the utter exhaustion to get the Tartarus out of this swamp, so seconds later, he was collapsed on a little chair inside Justice's fake temple, eating biscuits and drinking raspberry tea, hoping the exhaustion wouldn't last too long. It was weird that the running speed was the worst power that Ares' blood had given him. It just didn't work well. It could exhaust him for seconds or days.

"So, what's the problem?" Justice asked. "You've found a way of forming your own justice. I am not needed."

Joxer munched on a biscuit and drank some tea before answering. It was best not to bite off Justice's head. He was here to ask a favor after all. "Look, I need you, because I could see in Ares' eyes that he thought he still had the advantage over me. He can just follow my escapades and tell anyone I help who I was and doom them. Or he could tell his number ones, all two thousand of them, about my secret and have them yell out my name to anyone who'll listen.

"Your powers are far reaching, though you are fading more every day. If you could just put a spell on Ares, make him not be able to tell my secret, it'd be fair, more it'd be just!"

"I happen to agree. Your father had set that whole thing up and doomed you by your own act of kindness. It needs to be rectified. And . . . you have balanced out Ares' war with your peace for the last six years. I like balance."

He nodded towards Joxer, though he didn't see him.

"Alright, I'll help you." Justice stood up, and his white eyes glowed as a scales of justice appeared in the room. It was falling a little to the left in Ares favor, so Justice righted it. Now they hung equally. "Just one problem. I only can stop him now. What makes you think he hasn't told anyone in Rome?"

"I don't know anyone in Rome," Joxer said. "I think he's saving his ace right now."

"Okay . . . Oh, and Joxer, you could visit me more often than just coming for a favor. This swamp gets so lonely."

With a snap of his fingers, Justice sent Joxer outside the swamp. Joxer guessed it was perfectly just that he didn't have to trudge out through those swampy waters again.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Xena was as usual astride Argo, her own armor glinting under the waning sun and Argo's beautiful golden body matching its gleam, while Gabrielle took her place on the ground. Xena would have allowed Gabrielle to ride, but Gabrielle insisted that she was fine walking, that she even liked it!

The truth was Gabrielle had never forgiven Argo for dropping her when the villagers were chasing Xena because of Ares' frame job. Gabrielle had insisted, "I control my own destiny down here!" indignation flaming in her eyes.

Gabrielle's own outfit didn't glimmer, as there was no metal of any sort. Still, her new yellow Indian outfit mellowed her appearance so much, she just had become as if she was living light herself. Together the trio made quite the sight, which made traveling down this solitary road with massive trees on either side pretty easy. Any other traveler would have been jumped and killed, but no one wanted to bother a seasoned warrior on horseback plus the goddess of light and sunshine.

It was good to be back in Greece, though. India had brought with it a lot of introspection. Gabrielle's new path had thrilled Xena to no end, especially since if Gabrielle didn't fight, she couldn't end up dying on a cross, now could she?

Xena had always felt bad that Gabrielle had wanted to be a warrior. She had sworn to herself she'd never allow that eager, young girl to become what Xena hated. She had wanted to foster her writing skills—Gabrielle had even talked about being a playwright. Instead, she had followed Xena's path right to the pain and sorrow it brought along with it.

Now, though, what she had always seen in Gabrielle could shine, the purity and the light—her own reason for fighting every day instead of giving up.

Gabrielle glanced at her. "What are you smiling about?" she asked.

"Oh, it just feels good to be back in Greece. India wasn't the best place for me. I got my arms chopped off. Alti bugged me again. You know . . ."

Gabrielle nodded with a smile. Her eyes told her she knew more than Xena would let on. Suddenly she froze and looked around. "Xena . . ."

But Xena already felt it. No mortal would be stupid enough to bother the two of them. But a god? They _lived_ on being stupid.

The area, starting the trek toward sundown, suddenly lit up like midday. The sign of Apollo . . .

"Apollo," "Xena said and flipped off her horse, giving Argo a pat on his rump to send him away. Xena didn't like the look in Apollo's eyes as he gazed at Gabrielle. "Having problems finding the ends of the earth?"

"Hello, Xena. I've never actually met you, though Ares won't shut up about you. Care to have some pleasantries before we get down to business?"

To answer Xena drew her sword and raised her chakram.

"Ah, I see Ares wasn't lying, always the warrior."

"I've recently rediscovered my way," Xena said. "Trust me, you don't want to fight me when I have nothing to distract my mind."

"You're right, I don't want to fight. I just want her," he said pointing his large finger at Gabrielle, who just snorted.

"No way."

"I wasn't talking to you. Now, look, I'll give you three chariots and two bags of gold for her."

"Are you kidding me here?" Gabrielle said. "My own father wouldn't sell me like you want to. Xena, I may not be violent now, but if you want to rearrange his face, I won't say anything."

"Hm, rearrange his face. Great idea," Xena said and threw her chakram. A little known secret about the chakram was it grew deadlier and deadlier and faster and faster as it hit different objects, so when it bounced off Apollo's hide, it did more than sting.

"Ow! See, this is why the gods don't bother you, Xena. I come with the best intentions to buy your sidekick, and you throw your stupid round thing at me. This is the last mistake you'll ever—oof!"

Xena had wasted no time in listening to this god and had already sprung into action, kicking both feet into Apollo's chest and sending him to the ground. The warrior fire was burning through her soul, making Apollo the singular goal here. She couldn't let the fear in that she wasn't able to defeat a god permanently without hind's blood or the Chronos rib or the dagger of Helios.

If Apollo kept coming . . . she didn't know what she'd do. This wasn't like with Callisto where she could just bury her in rocks for the umpteempth time. Apollo was the god of the sun. Well, she certainly wouldn't make it easy on him. Most gods were lazy as sin. So, give them a hard time, and they gave up pretty fast. They didn't have the mortal tenacity.

So, with her warcry, she circled Apollo, kicking every vulnerable part he had, which was . . . well, none. Luckily, Gods still felt pain, so she was still causing it to Apollo, who wasn't just standing there. He had already brought firebolts from the sky and had tried to fry Xena where she stood. Fortunately, this guy was no Callisto and had no idea on how to play with fire. Xena had had plenty of experience dodging Callisto's fire.

"Apollo, I won't let whatever sick plan you have work. You know how formidable I am."

"You obviously don't know what could happen to mortals if I take away the sun!" Apollo said, angrily screaming every word. Then he closed his fist and the sun was eclipsed. Darkness covered the area. Xena suddenly knew this was a battle she could not win. He would make mankind suffer for not getting Gabrielle.

Part of Xena's mind said, _Let them suffer. I won't lose Gabrielle._

She knew it was wrong . . . but she just couldn't find the energy to care.

"Need a sword covered in hind's blood?" A hollow voice had somehow appeared next to Xena. Funny, she hadn't felt anyone arrive.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"A friend."

"Hercules?"

"Not quite."

Then she felt a sword put in her hand, and she smelt the hind blood dripping from it. Who this new arrival was and why he just appeared to help her, she didn't ask. Instead she did what a warrior did and attacked Apollo.

He fought desperately—all the gods did—fighting so ferociously, Xena had to make the decision to kill him. There was no other ending to this. Apollo didn't want Gabrielle as a friend or a warrior or anything that Ares wanted Xena for. He wanted an object. She would be a toy, just like Cassandra. Xena had had to prevent Cassandra from being one way back when Apollo had taken an interest in her and made it so no one believed her prophecies.

It ended pretty quickly, the world shaking with the loss of such a major god.

The sun returned in a heartbeat.

"The sun?" Gabrielle questioned, "but I thought since the God of the Sun died, we'd lose the sun."

"No, the power of the gods isn't nature. The gods only control it. The sun still exists with or without the gods," Xena explained. "Too bad it can't just stay like that, though. One of Apollo's children will get that power now. Hopefully, he or she will handle the power better than his or her father."

Finally Xena turned to the person who had helped her. It was hard to tell what kind of form he had under that billowing cape and cloak, and a full face mask covered the rest of his features. "Who are you?"

"I am Lockinus the Hero. I saw that you need help. Oh, by the way, Apollo travels with an army."

Then warriors by the dozen all came out of the trees, wearing the sun armor that bore Apollo's symbols. They were enraged by the death of their god, so they all attacked. Whoever this new arrival was, he fought very well. Xena was amazed at how many he could throw around. And he didn't get covered in guys like she had seen Hercules had so many times, waiting to throw them off. He threw them before they could converge on him, a much better battle tactic then getting covered.

With Lockinus at her back, she didn't even have to worry about Gabrielle not fighting, and the battle ended as quickly as it begun. She heard a few Apollo soldiers saying, "Maybe I should follow Hestia instead."

"Thanks for your help," Xena said to the cloaked figure but she still had her sword out.

"Yeah, that was amazing!" Gabrielle chimed in. "What makes you fight so well?"

"I have the blood of a god in me, Ares' to be exact."

That was enough for Xena. She didn't want to have any more dealings with this man until he removed his mask. It could be Ares himself under that mask. "So, you going to take that mask off?" she demanded. He shook his head.

"I can't. I can't explain, but I have a curse on me."

"Well," Xena said with a grin, crossing her arms. "That's very convenient."

"It's true," he said. "At least I fought alongside you."

"Don't do it again," Xena said. It seemed to surprise him.

"What?"

"In battle I need someone I can trust at my back. I don't trust anyone that wears a mask to cover up their true identity, and then all that bull about having a curse? This is ridiculous."

"But . . . but I just helped you. Can't you trust me even a little?"

"No." With that she gestured to Gabrielle and the pair was off again, traveling the same way. After a while, Gabrielle looked up at Xena back astride Argo.

"Okay, I don't get it. What did you have against someone who helped against Apollo?"

"His mask," Xena said shortly. And Gabrielle got it.

"It's because of Cortez, isn't it?"

Xena gave another grin, this time sincere. "You know me too well by now."

"I know enough to know that he left his mark on you. If it weren't for him, you wouldn't have become the warrior you are now. Those wounds dig deep. That's okay, Xena. We don't need Lockinus' help. If you want him far away from us in battle then that's where he'll stay. Even though I would love to write a whole scroll about him."

"Your sacrifice is noted," Xena joked and the two traveled again, into the sunset.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Joxer stared at his reflection that was just as depressed as he was, down there in the bottom of the cup. Xena had completely rejected him. Gabrielle hadn't defended him. The only way he could spend time with them was as an idiot.

This curse was bad enough, but he had had years he could have told them about himself, and he had chosen to waste them. Now he was pretty much self-doomed. He looked at the bag next to him which carried one of his outfits of the masked Lockinus. The rest he had left inside a cave.

The truth was though right now he couldn't care less about the dual identity. It seemed pointless. All it did was alienate him from the people he cared about. What a life! He had helped Xena kill the god of the sun, and all she did was tell him to go away as if he had been Joxer the Mighty! Heck, Joxer would have had a better reception, as she had in the past trusted him with such important things as the hind blood dagger.

As Joxer, he was welcomed. As Lockinus spurned. One could fight, the other couldn't. As Joxer he couldn't even risk for a second fighting except goofily (which got old really fast), so he couldn't help them, but as the one who could, Xena wouldn't have him anywhere near her.

"It's all pointless!" he said and got up, sweeping his leg into a few barstools and sending them all to the ground. A little clumsy rampage made him feel a bit better without anyone trying to kill him for mass destruction.

"Get out!" the bartender yelled. "You've had enough."

"Yeah, I have," Joxer muttered, pulling his pack with him and finding a nearby ravine. Without a second thought, he sent the entire thing, costume and all, falling end over end into the bottom. "I never was meant to be Lockinus," he said and started walking, not knowing where he was going.

The night air soothed his skin if not his nerves, as he headed down the road. The stars overhead were covered by the thinnest haze of clouds, but obscured at all, they didn't shine, so there was very little light on this sparse road. Ares' blood also gave him very good night vision, so the thugs knocking a woman wearing a cloak to the ground were very visible.

He took stock of the situation. There were at least ten goons and only one woman. Joxer knew this would happen again. But he had thrown out Lockinus! This poor woman would just have to be on her own. He couldn't save everyone. He couldn't even save himself.

He decided to head into the ditch and get around these people. A small feeling of, "What the heck is wrong with me?" hit his stomach, but he carefully explained to it that he would kill all of these people if he fought, and goofy fighting certainly wouldn't work against ten full-blown warriors.

His super hearing started up. The thugs weren't going to kill her yet. "This is great," one ugly voice said, almost as if he were chewing on rocks. "We can easily get one thousand dinars for her."

"No way. Ares would give one hundred thousand. He hates her."

"Don't court trouble," the other advised. "He isn't even offering. The prison is offering a thousand."

Joxer could only deduce two things from their talk, and one wasn't likely. Either this woman was so important she had a bounty on her head, and that's what they were discussing—which was the unlikely one: she sure wasn't Xena here—and the second was they were planning to sell her as a slave, and she was good for that kind of thing.

Now, that he couldn't allow. A lot of human inaccuracies drove him crazy, but nothing quite as much as selling people as items, taking away their choice, and treating them as animals. Giving up Lockinus was fine, but the Fates had obviously sent him down this road. Fine, he'd fight one more group of thugs before retiring.

It was lucky for the thugs that it was dark, as they couldn't see who was fighting them. Joxer took out the first five by three strong kicks to their jaws, and then picked up three to hit the same five over and over again. He decided to have a little fun, and started juggling the remaining ones.

"I wonder when it is I always mess up," he noted to the closest ear as the thug passed him, flew into the air, and then every thug all of the sudden fell into a heap. "Ah, there."

Thanks to the dark, and more importantly mortals' fear of the dark, everyone concerned thought there was some kind of demon who had appeared out of the very sky and wanted to eat their souls, so as a group, they all ran screaming into the night.

Joxer smiled. That at least felt good, but of course it did. He had fought as himself and no one had died. It just reminded him of how alone he truly was. The only way he could show his true nature was as a "demon."

He sighed and decided to feel sorry for himself at the nearest tavern again. Then he realized that the woman wasn't moving. Had she been injured? He started walking off, but then realized he couldn't pretend to run off as the warrior who helped her and "appear" again as Joxer the Mighty. She might really be injured.

So he hoped the night would cover his face as he went over to the figure lying on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Mm-hm," the lady muttered.

"Then why aren't you getting up?" Joxer asked.

"They got my head," she said. "I'll be fine. I'm not used to being . . . never mind. Go away."

Something about that voice seemed familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. But if her head was injured, he would have to help out. Though Ares had hated it, Asclepius had taken in Joxer as a student, and he knew quite a bit about healing.

"Could you close your eyes and look away?" Joxer asked. "I can see about stitches or something."

"I'm fine, Joxer."

His own name hit him like a ton of bricks. She knew who he was! Had she seen him fighting? Wait, who was she? Panicking a bit, he did something probably very stupid and pulled the cloak off the woman's face, hoping he wouldn't see Gabrielle or Xena or Meg or anyone else he knew.

Well, the woman was one he knew well unfortunately.

Callisto the warrior queen was now glaring at him, a trickle of blood—blood, oh great she was mortal—falling down her cheek. "Couldn't you just have left?" she asked.

"Callisto! I, uh . . ." He didn't quite know what to do here. There were too many sensory stimuli. Callisto was here! Callisto was dead! She had been a god! Xena had killed her. Wait . . . had she seen him fight? Who cared? She was the most evil creature in Greece! If she was back somehow and he killed her it would be justice.

Still . . . he didn't want Paci's curse to take any more victims, even someone like Callisto. Besides, she may have just been a look alike. There were enough running around. "Uh, hi, did you see that guy who fought all those guys? He was Lockinus the Hero. I was here to give him back up but he didn't need it. He's my best bud, and I am his mentor, master, and former trainer."

The glare deepened. "I don't like lies. You fought all those guys, and you must have some god blood in you."

Joxer was stunned. She actually believed this! Then why wasn't she dead? Maybe she was just kidding. Better not give her anything.

"No, that was Lockinus. He's the son of a god!"

"Okay, great. So, you're Lockinus then. I believe I said go away."

Joxer was puzzled. "Are you Callisto?" he asked.

"Who else would I be?" she demanded finally standing up and looking him in the eyes. "Who else would wear this?" she asked gesturing to her leather two piece armor. "Who else would listen to your jabber and not kill you?"

"That doesn't sound like Callisto," Joxer said. "Are you a look alike?"

"No, I am Callisto. Look, I had no idea you could fight so well, or else I really would have put you in charge over that traitor lovesick idiot of Theodorus. To think, when you said you were pretending to be an idiot so you could easier get the drop on them, you were telling the truth."

This wasn't making any sense. Joxer knew the curse worked. He had already seen at least one misfortunate when he had been heading back from the encounter with Ares. He hadn't wanted to test it, but someone had seen him fight and had started choking to death until he turned into ash.

So why wasn't Callisto dying? Why was she here? How was she back?

He proposed the last two questions to her; she didn't look pleased. Then he added, "and why haven't you killed me yet?"

"Why would I tell you anything? You didn't save me, I hope you know. I was just getting used to being mortal again and was trying to figure out a way of getting out of that without murdering every son of a . . ."

"Hey! You have to tell me what you're doing here."

"How do you figure?"

"You know that I can fight. You've seen it. I know how you can fight. A battle could last all night, but since you know about me now, I should know about you. It's only fair."

"Since when have I ever cared about being fair?" she asked.

"Since you didn't kill every guy here and rub their blood into your skin, that's when. Something is different about you."

Callisto scoffed.

"Look, I have a curse on me that Paci put on that kills everyone who sees me fight. See? We're sharing now. Your turn." Joxer didn't exactly know why he told her that, unless he was just so desperate to tell _someone_ , but it was more likely because he saw . . . a soul in Callisto's eyes now, something he had never seen before. She was also struggling with something, and he wanted to give her a hand. He wondered if this was what Hercules felt when he had looked in Xena's eyes so long ago.

Callisto studied him for a few seconds. "Okay, as long as I have something over you as well. This is my story . . ."

To be continued.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine Callisto's Story

Callisto was in a state of shock, which was new for her. There had been so much numbness since the death of her family, she didn't even know it was possible to feel so strongly anymore. She was too used to the bits and pieces. But Gabrielle had just sacrificed her own self to save Xena from the Fates' hand and Ares' debt.

Something started growing, pushing through the icy hardness that had never melted no matter how much fire she had at her disposal. It, like a new bloom, shoved through and became an emotion, one of indescribable beauty. Gabrielle had just been so selfless. More than just her own life, Gabrielle had chosen to kill her own daughter for the greater good.

Then she looked at Xena's devastated face and suddenly it all hit her in one swoop. That's the expression she had always wanted to see on Xena. First Hope had killed Xena's son, and Callisto had realized how pointless it all had been, but now . . . something drove into her heart, now painfully beating and mercilessly starting to feel when she least needed it.

Callisto had become who she hated.

How many faces had looked like that? Why had Callisto ignored her own mother when she told her how she would have to face her crimes sooner or later? In Tartarus, she thought she was doing that, and it had been so boring, she had teamed up with those stupid eyes of Hera to take down Hercules all to get another chance at Xena, and for what?

Suddenly, the faces started appearing, the thousands she cursed and killed. Like a tornado that swept up into her gut and choking her throat. But the other force in her, the thing she had felt since she had eaten the ambrosia and become a god, the only thing that kept her company in that cave under those rocks, started speaking, "Who cares about mortals? Kill them all . . . you are supreme. You are a god."

It would be so easy to slip into those thoughts. Disappear out of here and consume herself with destroying the world.

But . . . Callisto was once a sister, a daughter, a girl, before all this, before the vengeance consumed her, before this strange voice of god had taken her over. She wanted oblivion, and she still did. She couldn't just allow herself to live.

With another look at Xena, though, she knew she'd have to force her hand. Xena had just lost her reason. She would run out of here in a state of madness and forget Callisto: a costly mistake for everyone around. Xena was just not thinking straight. Callisto would have to remind her she was here.

With a laugh, she said, "I never thought I'd feel so good again! Seeing poor, dear Gabrielle sacrifice herself makes it all worthwhile. It finally gives me a reason for living, and I have you to thank for it, Xena!"

That did it. Xena turned around, still armed with the hind blood dagger and shoved it as hard as she could into Callisto's stomach.

"No more living for you," Xena promised, and Callisto took her promise as oath.

The hind blood was like fire, seeping into every part of her body and . . . starting to rip?

As the storm brewed inside, she noted that Xena did exactly as Callisto had predicted earlier and ran out of there, intent on finding Gabrielle. Callisto wished she had had someone to care about her as much as Xena did about Gabrielle, but in her death thralls it really didn't matter anymore.

Joxer kneeled for a few moments, mourning Gabrielle as well. Great . . . everyone cared about that blonde with that stupid stick. But he too left, and Callisto was alone, as always. Waiting for death . . .

It was a strange thing, dying, and she never got used to it. Of course, when she had sunk into that quicksand, the feeling was weirder: complete and utter suffocation, of all pores and everything.

It wasn't like a giant knife was cutting her in two, and that's exactly like this death was. Some part of her, the thing that whispered in her ears and said that being a god was all that, was writhing in pain, slowly but surely wiggling away.

Callisto suddenly understood! She was not born a god. She was a mortal turned into a god. That hind blood could easily kill a god, but not the mortal side. She just had a wound to the belly, and that wasn't too fatal. After all, Xena hadn't been thinking of Callisto as a mortal. She knew she didn't have to go for the killing blow, and she certainly hadn't had the motive when Gabrielle had fallen to her death. Xena had just placed the blade through the stomach area where no vital organs had been punctured.

Callisto was still alive.

The god side of her whimpered one last time, and Callisto sat up, bleeding heavily, but she quickly staunched it, by ripping a piece off one of the Dahak follower's robes. He had been kind enough to die right at her feet, so she could easily use his robe. What she had felt was burying her, but she suddenly saw her sister's face, not as the vengeful maiden she had a tendency to be but as a peace maker. Callisto shouldn't be killing everyone to make up for her own family's death. She should have done the opposite of Xena. She should have brought peace, studied healing, and did everything she could to help people. She should have been, what had that idiot the Sovereign called it? Yes, she should have been more like her alternate reality's self of being a priestess.

How did these new thoughts come in?

Callisto suddenly got it: it was Gabrielle. She had saved Xena. So selflessly . . . so pure. Callisto had always wanted to be her. With eyes misty, Callisto suddenly started crying . . . she had never cried, had never felt the urge, but now she cried like a baby, letting the tears count down the people in her village, until suddenly, she felt her ripped apart soul start to heal.

Suddenly, she saw the beauty of the world. Even this temple had its charm, though it wasn't the best decorated. Suddenly, Callisto wanted to see the mountains, the forest, the sea. She was alive!

Then she heard a small moan. Where was it coming from?

She dragged herself over to the hole, where Dahak's fire had previously lit up, and looked down. There was no sign of Hope anywhere, but she saw a form. It was Gabrielle! Still alive, but barely. Callisto could tell it was Gabrielle, not Hope, because Hope, even as a child, just didn't have that vulnerability to her, that innocence in sleep.

Callisto had a decision to make. She could just leave, and forget the witch or . . . risk bleeding further, ignoring all the living she had wanted to do and climb down that stupid pit and save Gabrielle.

Callisto wrinkled her nose at the thought. Then she remembered that feeling, the actual feeling of Gabrielle's sacrifice. It would be the only way to repay her for that . . . Callisto believed in paying back debts.

So, she started the long trek downwards, feeling the pain of being mortal again. She would have to do this slowly. Wedging a foot into a crevice in the rock, she also wedged her hands in other crevices, slowly but surely finding new crevices. Sheesh, being a mortal was tough!

She knew that she had only been above mortal for about a year, but she had easily forgotten everything to do with being a mortal, and this work was tiresome. Callisto was just glad that Dahak's fire had seemed to find a new home, as climbing into that furnace would have been horrible and seriously tested Callisto's love for fire.

Finally, she reached the nook where Gabrielle was unconscious. Without second guessing herself, she pulled Gabrielle onto her back and climbed upwards again. By the top she was sweating profusely, and her blood had spilled out more and more, but . . . she had done a good deed.

It felt great! How could she have caused so much pain all this time when helping felt so much . . . cleaner. On the way to the hospice, Gabrielle staying unconscious the entire time, Callisto made a new vow. She would never kill again, not even in battle. From now on she would try and help.

First she had to heal as was shown when she showed up, deposited Gabrielle on an empty cot and then collapsed herself. She didn't know when she was put into a private room to make sure she lived and she didn't know when Gabrielle awoke and went to find Xena, oblivious on who had saved her. Callisto was reborn.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten

Joxer just stared at Callisto after she finished telling him her story. Could he trust that everything she said was the truth? Was all this just a lie, a way to destroy Xena once and for all? True, Gabrielle didn't know how she had gotten to that hospice, and even though Ares had made that whole thing up that he had her soul in exchange for saving Hope (ridiculous, when Gabrielle had been trying to save _Xena_ not Hope), Gabrielle had been in that hospice since the fall and had no recollection how she had gotten there. And Ares couldn't have saved her, because Joxer had seen that he had disappeared way after Gabrielle had fallen. Even a god couldn't move that fast.

Then again . . . Callisto's heart had been eaten away by hatred long ago. Could she have truly been reborn again? Stranger things had happened . . . then again maybe not.

Callisto wrinkled her nose at his silence. "Yep, that's why I didn't want to tell you. I am known as a villain."

"What do you expect?" Joxer demanded. "You killed unarmed people. You killed children. How can this about-face have even happened?"

Callisto hung her head. This was a sight of Callisto he had never seen before. In fact, he was pretty sure no one had ever seen this before. "I don't know exactly either. All I know is that all my rage, that burning fire that had spread from my village's attack into my heart had always burned. It never let up. It never gave me peace. Only when I killed did I feel any release . . . Suddenly, when Gabrielle sacrificed herself for Xena, I felt as if . . . the flames were quenched.

"Something that pure . . . that good, reminded me of who I was . . . when I was young. When I saw my parents burning in front of my eyes, my entire soul went up in ash. I hadn't seen that kind of goodness since my family. Gabrielle hadn't sacrificed herself even for her husband. Even when I killed him, when she came to kill me, though she gave up at that moment, she still came in the first place to kill a sleeping unaware person. Everybody had been so . . . selfish. From Ares to Hera to even Hercules.

"I had thought he'd try to change me," she suddenly confessed, looking so sad that Joxer almost believed her, but he had to hold back. He had to be sure. "Instead, he too condemned me."

"He probably could see that you couldn't change, and you know that was true."

"Still . . . it would have been nice if he had tried," Callisto said. "No one has ever seen a soul in me. I know I have my own self to blame, because even I didn't see my own soul. Now, though, the Fates have decided to grant me another chance. You don't have to believe me."

She stood up. It appeared that the wound was just a flesh wound. "Thanks for asking my story and for saving me."

Joxer gaped. "Did Callisto the Warrior Queen just thank me?"

"Don't push your luck," she said through gritted teeth.

"Ah, still have your temper, I see, but sorry, you swore that you wouldn't kill anyone ever again. You'll just have to put up with me, and I'll continue pushing my luck."

"Go away," Callisto said again.

"Are you crazy? I don't completely trust your conversion. I need to keep an eye on you."

"That's a nice way of saying you're going to help me," Callisto said. She had seen through his threat. It was true. If Callisto was sincere, he'd do what Hercules didn't and try to convince her she could change, maybe help her find her path. After all hadn't he himself killed before? Wasn't he as guilty? He had gotten his chance at redemption, and so should Callisto.

"Look, you're going to be travelling around the very areas that you terrorized before," Joxer pointed out. "It might be nice to have a friendly Mighty to tell people you've changed before they set lynch mobs on you."

Callisto shrugged.

"And Xena, if she saw you, you probably won't get much of a chance at redemption." Then he thought of something. "You know . . . you need a second identity. Ever thought about being Callisto the Mighty?"

"What?!" Callisto demanded with a glare.

"You don't want to kill, and that's fine. Nobody will believe that, but if you were I don't know . . . Callisto the Mighty, or better yet a look alike of Callisto named Calli."

"That's great, all you did was shorten my name."

"Okay, okay, how about Ursa, Joxer the Mighty's sidekick."

"You're really pushing it."

"Think about it. There are plenty of look-alikes running around. You've got Meg, Leah, Diana who all look like Xena."

"Who are they?"

"Then you've got Hope as Gabrielle," Joxer continued, not answering. It was best at this point for Callisto not to know too much about Xena's look-alikes. "And Jett for me. And Jace . . . never mind. Even my own father has this look-alike named Timor."

"Who is your father? Do I care that he has a look alike?"

"Oh . . . yeah, one more thing about me. Ares is my father."

"The God of War is your father?!" Callisto said incredulously. "It's a good thing I don't like you much already or else I'd start to dislike you. As it is, though, it makes perfect sense such an annoying man as yourself . . ."

"Thank-you!" Joxer said brightly.

"Is Ares' son. I hate the both of you equally."

"Doesn't matter," Joxer said, though he could see she was just trying to get rid of him. The hatred that had burned so fiercely in her eyes had diminished to a gentle glow. "It's a perfect cover. You won't have to kill. If we cross paths with Xena and Gabrielle, they'll get to see the real you, the new you, and not the murdering psychopath."

"That's . . . actually a good idea, Joxer, but I have to start redeeming myself. How can I when I'm an idiot all the time?"

"What's your opinion of masks?"


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter Eleven

Joxer peered through the trees at the long and winding road that two figures were slowly appearing on, like two little specks. He needed a bit more time before Gabrielle and Xena showed up. He had been planning this meet up for about a week, and it could go horribly wrong.

He glanced across the branch at Callisto, who didn't seem as concerned, one leg stretched out on the branch she lounged on. The last week had been mostly training. Not with a sword, of course—Callisto could have taught Joxer a thing or two—but about being an idiot. It was important that Xena and Gabrielle didn't suspect that Ursa was really Callisto or else not only would they probably try to bury her in rocks again, but also they'd start suspecting that good old Joxer the Mighty was hiding something—and that could be deadly.

"You're worrying too much," Callisto noted, stretching against the tree. Joxer had to admit that had she been wearing her old outfit of all that leather and her extremely good abs showing, that stretch might have been a bit distracting, but she had decided to not look as fearsome and had changed to a black pants and velvet green bodice combo, with intricate braided strands marching down the edges—she refused to wear a peasant dress. This outfit covered all her warrior muscle up, and made it a little more believable that she was a simple look alike. Her glares, however, were harder to cover. "I tried to kill Xena plenty of times. I doubt a stupid thing like a curse will take down the Warrior Princess."

Joxer gave his own version of a glare towards Callisto, maybe not as impressive, but a lesser degree of malice. "I'm not taking any chances. How do I know this isn't a whole plot by you to take advantage of my curse and kill your archenemy?"

"That tune is getting pretty old, Joxer," Callisto said. "If you thought that for even a second, I wouldn't be here now. You trust me, idiot. Just admit it."

"Maybe if you admit you don't really think I'm an idiot."

Callisto rolled her eyes, but Joxer caught a small grin before she turned towards the road. "They're almost here. Should we jump down on top of them for our entrance?"

"No! We'll just scurry down this tree, and double back to meet them on the road. Now, remember, you don't hate either of them. Keep those glares to a minimum."

"You should talk!"

"Just try to be not ferocious but . . . loveable. Can you do that?"

Callisto batted her eyes at Joxer, who groaned. She looked about as loveable as a dagger. He really hoped she could pull this off. If he didn't know that this meeting was inevitable—Greece just wasn't that big for two powerhouses such as Xena and Callisto to never meet up—he would have just kept the three apart forever. He chewed on his bottom lip in worry.

"Still worrying, I see. Okay, okay," Callisto said, as they slipped out of the tree and started arranging the meetup. "I can be stupid. Look, I know this is hard for you, but you should know by now when I do something, I do it with all my heart. No one did vengeance like I did, right?"

"True."

"So, the same is true for this act. I agreed with you that I needed to reinvent myself. I would rather be seen as a cuddly teddy bear than that . . ." Her voice caught and she looked away. Did she actually have tears in her voice? That amazed Joxer. She actually was starting to feel for what she had done. It was taking its time, like a glacier thawing, but Callisto the Warrior Queen was starting to own up to what she had done. Her journey would be a long and painful one.

"Can you do this?" Joxer whispered again as they walked out of the trees and started their walk towards Xena and Gabrielle.

"Watch and learn," she said.

As they got closer to the two, Gabrielle noticed them (Xena had already noticed as they appeared on the road). Her jaw dropped for an instant as she saw Callisto, but then she shook her head and jumped to the false conclusion that Joxer had hoped she would.

"Another double?" she asked.

"No, she really is Callisto! I found her getting beat up by a bunch of guys and saved her," Joxer said, posing a little and then showing his muscle. "You may praise me."

"Right, Joxer," Xena said with a grin. Joxer could tell she was relived, because she thought that Callisto had returned _again_. "Who are you really?" she said to Callisto. Joxer held his breath. It was his idea that he would tell the complete truth, and Callisto would lie, like a one-two punch. They never believed his truth, but Callisto could still ruin everything.

"I am Ursa, the seventh star in the night sky, owner of the dreams of mankind," Callisto said in a strange tone. Joxer's jaw dropped. He had never seen Callisto act . . . nutty—psychotic and insane, sure, but not nuttier than a squirrel's hideout. This was perfect! She looked like she had spent too much time with those opium dealers. He quickly got himself under control. With Callisto doing so well, the last thing she needed was for him to screw it up by being surprised.

"Um, you're a god?" Gabrielle asked.

"No, of course not, what makes you say that?" Callisto asked. It was at this moment for a tiny instant that Callisto's façade dropped as she gazed at Gabrielle with utter sorrow, mixed with awe. Along with the gratitude that Callisto had for Gabrielle and her selfless act showing Callisto a new path, there was also the fact that Callisto remembered the murder of Perdicas. To her credit, she recovered quickly. Joxer just hoped Gabrielle hadn't caught that.

"Well," Gabrielle continued. She seemed to have missed that look. "I just assumed. You're the 'owner of the dreams of mankind' and all."

"Of course, I am. I am part of mankind and I dream, right?" Joxer could see a grin at the corner of Callisto's mouth. She was enjoying this!

"Well, unfortunately, Ursa," Xena spoke up, "you had better be careful. Maybe Joxer didn't tell you, but you bear an uncanny resemblance to a monster named Callisto. You ever heard of her?"

Joxer gulped. Xena was suspicious. Maybe Gabrielle hadn't caught that look, but Xena noticed everything! He was doomed! He had better get out of here fast, before she started thinking that he was . . .

But Callisto didn't even blink. "A soul that far gone has no interest for me," she said, in a hollow dreamy tone. "She should have found peace in her own heart."

Xena grinned and turned away. Then she turned back with such speed, even Joxer couldn't see it coming. Before he could even blink, Xena had put the pinch on Callisto!

"Alright, I've cut off the blood to your brain. You have maybe twenty seconds before you die."

Callisto still didn't flinch. "Ah, if this is how I will go out of this world, then so be it. It has always been the way of the priestess to walk the path of the gods. Come to me, death! Welcome me into your loving arms!"

With that Xena took the pinch off. "Sorry, Ursa," she said, helping her to her feet. She looked a bit chagrined. "I had to make sure. Callisto has returned more times than I care to remember. I had to make sure you were mortal and, well, not her."

"That would be 'not _she_ '," Callisto reprimanded.

"Well, okay. It was nice to meet you, Ursa." Xena turned away and headed towards Argo.

"Joxer, we're heading for Corinth," Gabrielle said. "You going to join us?"

"Maybe some other time. Ursa and I are headed towards Andreas. She's my new sidekick, so we have to go places and learn how to be warriors as a team."

"That's great, Joxer. Have fun," Gabrielle said. Joxer could hear as the distance grew between them Gabrielle say to Xena, "How could you put the pinch on that poor woman?"

"I had to make sure, Gabrielle. But that woman, as nutty as she is, is not Callisto. She's mortal, and the last time I saw Callisto, she was a god and dead. So, I was wrong. And she certainly would have attacked me after the pinch."

"Besides, the real Callisto would never be Joxer's _sidekick_ ," Gabrielle noted, and both women broke into laughter. Joxer, satisfied, broke into his own smile.

"Good job," Joxer said. "I have to admit, you were convincing. I thought after the pinch . . ."

"I always wanted her to pinch me," Callisto admitted. "I wanted to see if there was a way out of it."

"Glad you enjoyed yourself then," Joxer said making a face. "Is there a way out?"

"I don't know." She gazed down the road after Xena and Gabrielle. "I'll need her to do it a few more times to find out for sure."

"Callisto!" Joxer said. "Try to remember you're not Xena's enemy, okay?"

Callisto sighed. "Old habits die hard, like me. Anyway, successful first mission, huh? Now, why are we heading for Andreas?"

"Well, I need to go and check on the asylum. You know the Furies, right?" To Callisto's nod, he said, "Well, there are a few victims of them in an asylum. I try to drop by and do what I can to ease their stress. When I'm there, the Furies' spells aren't as strong, something about my blood or something. I also visit someone . . . Look, you don't have to come. We could meet up later."

"No . . . I have chosen my path, and as pathetic as it is, my new path is with you. Where you go, I'll follow."

"Okay, just keep on a sharp lookout. The Furies still frequent that town."


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter Twelve

The city of Andreas was a small town on the edge of the ocean. The only thing it had going for it besides lots and lots of cows milling around the outside were two things, an impressive asylum that people sent their crazy loved ones to and an even more impressive temple to the Furies. The asylum was old, dingy, and ordinary, but it was impressive for this village, because it actually had _four_ walls. The temple was better, though, ten stories tall, made of marble and pearls, and had the three Furies in statue form, with their tongues sticking out, and stuck on the building in fake flight, like really crazy, ugly gargoyles.

Callisto wrinkled her nose as they exited the carriage that had brought them this far. Gabrielle and Xena had to spend their time with horses and walking. Callisto liked being drove. "This pathetic backwater town is where the Furies like hanging out?"

"It's the asylum," Joxer said. "They like checking out their work." The two entered the town, if walking past a dingy, dirty pigpen counted as entering a town.

He was about to say more, when suddenly he froze. "Oh, what is he doing here? Hide!" he hissed at Callisto, who just shrugged and didn't move. "Callisto!"

But it was too late, as shooting into view with his normal striking image, Ares appeared in front of the two. When he noticed Callisto, he suddenly lost whatever he was going to say to Joxer, as he just gaped. He looked as if he was trying to figure this out. He leaned bodily on his war sword as he looked at her. "Another lookalike?"

"Yep, she's Ursa the . . . um Mighty?" he said, forgetting what Callisto had said she was.

Ares shook his head. "Well, Ursa, did you know that . . ." Suddenly, his tongue got caught on his tooth and spun back inside. A few pig herders glanced at Ares and just shook their heads. They had no real respect for the god of war, so they ignored what was going on.

Ares, however, looked flummoxed. He tried again, and his tongue reached out and slapped him on the face. "I don't get it!" Ares said. "Why can't I say . . ." Then he swallowed his tongue and spent a few minutes trying to drag it out again.

Joxer just smirked. "You'll find you can't tell anyone, Ares. See these people," he added to the ones who were climbing into the pigpens and pulling them towards the pig trough on the other side of town. "Innocents, the ones I'm guessing you wanted to kill and torment me with, but no I visited the god of justice. You're under this curse as long as I am. Unless you wanted to, um, I don't know, reverse it for me, break past Paci's curse out of the goodness of your heart?"

"What's that?" Ares asked. The villagers slowly but surely mingled away, and Ares sighed. "Very well, I will not tell anyone that you are really a great fighter." Then he cringed, waiting for his tongue to attack. When nothing happened, he stood up and tapped his tongue. "Your curse didn't last long."

A few travelers started coming out of houses, as it was market day and passed Joxer and Callisto. "Hey, everyone," Ares said with a smile, "this guy here is ow!" he said as his tongue started boxing with his face. "What gives?" he asked as the people left the area again. "I said that Joxer was a good fighter . . . Wait, I said it again!"

Joxer started to look nervous. "Uh, hey, whatever, Ares, gotta go. Unless you want to visit you-know-who, you should leave."

"I don't care about you-know-who," Ares said looking stern. "Anyone who can't fight the Furies is a weakness. Xena could fight the spell, why can't . . . you-know-who?"

Joxer lost every bit of goofiness and a glare the kind only matched by Callisto hit his features. Then he shook himself and got back under control. "Well, then go away."

He nodded to Callisto and both started walking down the road that led to the asylum, the only road that was covered in stones, only to hear Ares say, "I got it!" and then appeared in front of the two. "You," he said pointing at Callisto, "are somehow immune to Joxer's curse. Now how could that be?"

"Oh, drop it, you has been god of war!" Callisto snapped. She had never liked Ares.

Ares looked shocked. "Again? Oh my . . . well, me. . . . Lady, do you ever die?"

"I survived a hind blood dagger. I wonder what it'd do to you. Strife certainly hasn't come back, hm?"

Ares looked about ready to spit nails and sparks flew from his stormy eyes. "You step too far over the boundaries," he said. "And you're not even a goddess anymore. No Hope to protect you no ambrosia. Care to take me on?"

"Oh, not in the Furies' areas," Callisto said putting her face right into Ares and giving him a grin. "You're just as mortal as I am here. Care to play?"

Ares gritted his teeth and disappeared, leaving Joxer shaking his head. "Man, you just don't play well with others, do you, Callisto? You know you just made him mad, don't you? What do you achieve by baiting him?"

"Who cares? I never have liked that big waste of space. Besides I've got you to help me if he comes back." She batted her eyes at him, and Joxer groaned. Both continued their journey to the asylum, but Joxer wondered if Callisto could handle Ares now that she was mortal. As a god, she had problems with him, and it was only with Hope's help that she defeated Ares in the first place. Joxer knew that Ares wouldn't suffer fools gladly. He just hoped Ares would start a new war and forget Callisto. Joxer was pretty sure Ares couldn't breathe a word to anyone on even who Ursa was, so no worries that'd he tell Xena and Gabrielle—that curse of the god of justice was pretty thorough—but what he'd do about Callisto . . .

He never intervened directly. He always manipulated the situation.

Callisto glanced at Joxer's worried face. "Oh come on, stop worrying. I've always been able to handle Ares."

"I think you have a death wish," Joxer noted as they entered into the boring doors of the asylum.

"I used to, but now I'd rather live. But I am not about to cower before Ares of all gods. I know how to handle him."

Joxer hoped that was true . . . for his own sake. Because he was now in this for the long haul. If Ares went after Callisto, Joxer would have to think about bringing out a facet of his own personality he hadn't done in a very long time, when the gods quailed at his name.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

The Furies were dancing, of course, the red veils streaming around as they danced across the ceiling. It seemed that normal dancing was too boring for them today. As Ares watched the undulating trio, he sighed. Sometimes he thought that the Furies weren't driving people insane: they were just making them more normal in their own eyes.

"Come on, Alecto," Ares cajoled, trying to get them to fly away from the top of the temple and come down. The only thing he had accomplished so far was to get them here. As soon as they saw him, they had shrieked in their crazy way and spent the hour humming and dancing, ignoring him. "Tisiphone, Megaera, I just want to talk."

Alecto stuck her tongue out. At least that was something. She was paying attention to him now. And they were here. They couldn't be too angry about his betrayal of the sacred trust when he called in justice for Xena's father. "This is a matter of justice!"

"Justice?" Megaera said and laughed coming down to blow a raspberry in Ares' face and then returned to her sisters, where the three of them painted the ceiling red. "He wants justice!" she yelled to her sisters. "Scab! Scalawag! Rebel god!"

"We were friends, right?"

Alecto finally sighed and flew down. This time she didn't rub all over him. She hated him now. "We gave you the last favor you'll ever get from us, Ares. When we pretended to be the Fates to call in Gabrielle's debt for you, the Fates took revenge. They tied our fates only to this village. They seemed to think our deed was _unfair._ What was unfair about having Xena die for Gabrielle's debt, don't ask us! But until a child not born by man appears on this earth, we are stuck here, and we can't even torment anymore people like Orestes. We had so many plans!"

Tisiphone screamed and mooned Ares. Ares rolled his eyes. Always so temperamental! "Look, this woman I want you to curse is already in your village. You can have a grand old time punishing her."

"Another child who didn't avenge their father's death? I'm bored with that!"

"No, you must have heard of Callisto."

Suddenly the other two dropped to the ground, causing the temple to shake. "Oh, Callisto!" the three said in rapture. "She's our role model. We love her!" Their eyes turned devout and stared at the ceiling they had just painted red. Drips of paint dropped into their eyes, but they didn't care as it spread across their faces and making it look like they were bleeding red tears.

"You what?" Ares asked, shaking his head. "Don't you want to punish her? She killed so many people."

"Oh come on, Ares, we only punish when it's so unfair, like calling upon children to revenge their parents and punish children who mouth off to their parents, things like that. But Callisto . . ." All moaned in unison. "Now she knows how to do revenge." Then they fainted in unison, in utter ecstasy.

Ares gritted his teeth. He had hoped the Furies would get on board with punishment. Maybe this needed a different angle. "She has mellowed out."

One eye opened of each. "What?" Alecto asked.

"There is no revenge in her heart. She has let Xena off the hook, has even allowed Xena to put the pinch on her. Even worse, she is spending time with Joxer, and becoming downright peaceful."

That got the Furies off the floor. "She wouldn't dare! The sacred trust!"

"Punish her," Ares urged. "Make her mad. Drive her with persecution. Make her see snakes coming out of her own stomach and drive her to her death!" He was about to go further with his punishment ideas tirade, but Tisiphone giggled.

"Make her what?"

"Mad, you know insane, looney tunes, crazy in the head . . ."

"Have you seen Callisto, I mean really?" Megaera said. "She makes us look mellow. She already rode that long road to the damned, Ares. Someone who has fought her demons in that regard can't be driven to madness again."

Ares frowned. It sure would have been nice. What would Joxer have done if Callisto suddenly had turned on him? He would have been forced to kill her, if he could, but there would be no more alliance, and no more Callisto and her insolent mouth. But, of course not! Woe was him!

"Okay, how about persecution?"

"Now, that we will do. I love our townspeople here in town. They are so dumb they form lynch mobs at the drop of a hat, and we plan to drop a lot of hats!" Alecto said, and all shrieked in unison. He wished they would stop doing things in unison.

Alecto suddenly grew serious.

"Oh gods and goddesses, Callisto has forsaken her duty to revenge. She shall be punished with only persecution."

"Boring," Ares said, but it was something.

Meanwhile, at the asylum, Callisto sat outside on one of the many benches outside, wondering what exactly Joxer was doing here. The Furies didn't seem to be adding anyone new to the ranks at the asylum, so his cover that he was only here to stop the Furies was looking pretty flimsy.

There was someone inside, someone that both Ares and Joxer referred to as you-know-who, someone that Joxer pretty much denied any knowledge of and had forbid—that's right forbid!—Callisto from coming in to see. She didn't have to listen, of course, but everyone had their own demons. Someone inside was Joxer's demon, and she certainly wouldn't force herself on him. If he wanted to share, fine, but this whole relationship wasn't like Xena and Gabrielle and those great fireside chats.

Still . . . something in Callisto's newly awakened heart wanted him to confide, just a little.

Something hit the edge of her brain, something she hadn't felt in a while started wiggling, something fiery and passionate.

"Move!" it screamed, and she suddenly caught an arrow aimed for her heart. Then another! And another! Until she felt as she did when the centaurs had opened fire on her, but this time she was no god. With every instant, she almost had an arrow imbedded in her. With a spinning jump, she hurled herself behind some barrels as a hundred more arrows thwocked into them. "Great . . .," she said as she looked through the cracks of the barrels. The villagers, the placid, boring, dung on their boots, farmers had all turned from dull to homicidal, and all wanted her dead. It was nothing new of course to hear, "Death to Callisto!" but this time she hadn't done anything to deserve it—well, not here at least.

The look in their eyes though wasn't vengeful. It was . . . insane. "The Furies," Callisto muttered. "I guess Joxer wasn't kidding." She then noticed quite a few coming up from the left, armed with swords, maces, daggers and . . . pitchforks? "Really?" Callisto said, and that familiar anger was building up. They really thought they were a match for her? The Warrior Queen?!

She would have showed these pathetic villagers what it was like to mess with her, but without wanting it to, Gabrielle's face came spiraling in her head, saving Xena . . . Callisto wouldn't become who she was: she wouldn't kill people who only were following a god's powers.

"Makes it harder . . .," she whispered to herself. With two glances, she checked the upcoming mob and the nearest window to the asylum. The door was blocked, but the window was wide open. With her signature scream, she pushed herself off the ground, tossed herself onto the nearest mob members and used their bodies to climb upwards towards the window. Then she looked down at the baffled but still crazed crowd. With a kiss to them, she slipped inside.

This asylum was . . . clean. That's about it. There was very little light, lots and lots of rooms and endless moaning and screaming. "Reminds me of Tartarus," Callisto said, but she tried to drop those images out of her head. The endless boredom was pretty bad down there, but it had been nothing compared to the voices inside her head. Hades had thought it fitting to place her inside an empty room where all she heard was the voices of the living that she had hurt. They had bounded inside her head like a herd of horses, and she was never at peace, until Hera had liberated her. Here . . . she hated it. Places like Tartarus shouldn't exist here on earth. She had to get Joxer and get out of this building and this village.

She sniffed the air, trying to find Joxer. It seemed she still had a bit of the goddess in her, because she could still sense Joxer through all this sweat, blood, and body odors. She couldn't wait to get out of here. Honing in, she heard the doors being shoved inwards by the mob outside.

Running from room to room, she saw what she didn't want to see: people who had gone over the boundaries, people driven mad by the Furies. It was too much! It was all too much! How could Joxer stand coming here?

"Joxer?!" she yelled. "Where are you?" and she finally opened a door to a nicer room than most, one full of vases of flowers and fresh air and sunlight that came through the barred window. Joxer was kneeling next to a rocking chair and talking to a woman with wild hair that fell out as if it had been growing for a very long time with little maintenance. Callisto abruptly shut up, as it seemed that Joxer hadn't heard her enter, had been so intent on this woman, he hadn't realized the mob screaming outside.

Callisto suddenly felt bashful. Joxer was brushing this woman's hair and trying to make it respectable, as he held one hand, murmuring to her. She didn't look at him, and stared instead at the celling. She wasn't even aware he was trying to comb her hair out, as she would just pull the braids out with her fingers as he tried to keep them straight.

There was something in her brown chocolate eyes, and Callisto suddenly recognized Joxer's eyes.

"Come on, Mom" Joxer said in his murmur, trying to stop her hands. Callisto gulped trying to step out the way she had come, but Joxer suddenly spun around to see her. For a second their eyes just locked, Joxer seeming not embarrassed but hardly comfortable. Callisto tried to apologize with her eyes, but all she said was, "The villagers are coming. I have to get out of here before I kill any of them."

Joxer nodded with a set jaw and turned to his mother. "I'll be back, Mom."

"No need for you," the woman sang. "No need for the guilty to visit their victims . . ."

Joxer flinched but stormed out, and Callisto followed. She wanted to ask, but the look on Joxer's face stopped her. "We'll need to climb out the back wall. There's a balcony that overlooks the edge of the forest. We can lose them in there."

Then the two were off, and the mob started storming the place. To make sure they left the inhabitants alone, Callisto shrieked and the mob ran after the two. Climbing stone stairs, Callisto and Joxer made it to the balcony Joxer had mentioned. Both jumped off, hitting the trees and then hitting the ground running. The crazed mob had the Furies in them, so they all followed, some being left behind with broken legs from the fall. The hounds had their scent.

Callisto ran . . . she wasn't sure they could lose these people. The Furies had infected them with their hate.


	14. Chapter 14

_Author's Note: Thank you, sweetkid45, and Amazonfire for your kind reviews. You're keeping Fearforget writing on this. Much appreciation to you all!_

Chapter Fourteen

The villagers were indeed hounds. It seemed the Furies had used them before, as the villagers had honed this down to an art. Like seasoned pros, they had split off the forest into three sections and were alternately setting traps to catch them if they came out and the others taking groups deeper in.

Up above, back in the trees again, Joxer and Callisto looked down at all the villagers, who just didn't think that their prey could escape so far up the tree. Callisto had spent a lot of years on Xena's trail, so she knew how to escape like the Amazons did. Luckily, there were two trees together which had been here for ages. They had clutched each other, and they were so big and so strong, they made a perfect platform, almost like a treehouse.

It had already hit lunchtime, so Callisto caught a bird and plucked it, and then Joxer started a fire and cooked it. "They aren't going to give up," Callisto mentioned trying to get Joxer to talk. He hadn't liked the fact that she had seen his mother in that position, and he had pulled a stony face ever since, not even grunting at her.

Now, he shrugged and still gazed downward. "The Furies are like wolves."

Callisto smiled. "Okay, good so you're over that whole thing, great. I wasn't trying to see your mother like that, you know."

"Don't talk about her!" Joxer said under his breath so the villagers couldn't hear him, but there was ice to his tone. "I may tell the truth about almost everything else, but when it comes to my mom, I lie all the time. I told Gabrielle and Autolycus that she was a warlord's wife! Her! Like she could harm a fly. And you saw her . . . You just had to barge in didn't you?"

Callisto didn't know what to say. Through this all, Joxer had seemed like _he_ was the one who couldn't harm a fly. He always seemed so . . . gentle. Now, he was a raging bull: he reminded her of herself. "I can pretend I didn't see . . ."

"You know I said she had thought of me as a black sheep. I only lie about my mother. You can't talk about her!"

"Apparently you want to, though," Callisto noted.

Joxer gave her a glare and then sat down with a huff. "I . . . don't."

"Okay, then don't. We have a fire, though," Callisto joked, ready to forget this whole thing.

"I did that to her, you know," Joxer announced.

"Okay, here we go," Callisto said. It was obvious Joxer never had had anyone to talk about his mother with. Almost everything he told Gabrielle and Xena had been the truth in a weird way, but he out and out lied to them about his mom. It was Callisto he was choosing to open up with. Though it made her completely uncomfortable and want to just push him out of the tree so he would stop talking and trusting Callisto of all people with his secrets, some part of her heart swelled. There was a strange connection growing between her and this idiot.

"I drove her mad. I told you I was Ares' son. I told you about the curse, but you haven't asked how I grew up."

"You, too," Callisto shot back.

"Oh, like I'd want to open up that can of worms," Joxer said with a slight grin. The tree was no place to pace, but Callisto could tell he wanted to.

"Alright, fine, you want to talk about her. I'll listen on one condition," she said.

"What's that?"

"That you never ask me to open up about my own childhood, deal?"

Joxer nodded.

"Alright, we have time before nightfall. When that comes we have to move and see if we can get out of this forest, but in the meantime, I'm in the mood for a story. How'd you grow up, like Hercules, or with the gods?"

"With the gods? Oh, no, no, never _with_. I was above them. I was groomed to be Ares' assassin."

"Like Nemesis?"

"No, Nemesis had nothing on me. She exacted justice for mortals. I extracted lives from gods."

Callisto gasped, staring at Joxer with a new look. "Are you telling me you killed a god?"

" _A_ god? No, over seven hundred fell to my blade. You don't know the gods' hierarchy do you, of course not, you weren't born a god. You were only made one. You had such a will, you automatically got put up there with Ares. But there were dozens of gods. The bigwigs like Zeus and Hera, Hephaestus and Aphrodite, they had nothing to fear from me, but the lesser ones trembled.

"See, when a god is born, they have abilities over mortals of course. But they need to be named, like Ares God of War, Zeus King of the Gods, Hephaestus God of Metal, so on and so forth, but there are a lesser breed, the deities. Every named god has their fair allotment of powers, while the deities have a lesser store. Any god who dies loses powers. Whoever kills one in the name of whatever god they wish, that power swirls into the god named. You know this. You saw what happened when Strife died. Since you didn't do it in your name or even Dahak's the power just went wild and caused that earthquake.

"But the higher gods are extremely difficult to kill. I'd like to see anyone even try that. The lesser ones, the deities, however, all it takes is hind blood and a skilled assassin. There were two Fortunes at one time. The muses were seven."

Joxer sighed and sat down in front of the fire, its embers glowing in his eyes. "When I was born, along with Jett and Jace, an oracle told Ares that I would have the power to become the assassin of gods. He left my brothers behind and took me to Olympus, where he from the moment I was old enough to pick up a weapon trained me in the art of death.

"Jett was devastated that I was chosen and not him, so he always treated me like an annoying kid brother whenever I visited. He wanted to prove himself so much to Dad he became his own assassin, killing mortals, but Ares never even gave him a second glance. Jett was lucky just to get ignored by Ares. Poor Jace . . . Never mind, he wasn't like us, so Ares shunned him.

"Mom didn't like my course, but I still visited her, from the time I was old enough to walk to nowadays. She always sang me my song, until I changed the lyrics. 'Joxer the tidy, always plays insidey, never hurts the other boys . . .' You know she was trying to make me peaceful. Because I always hurt the other boys, so much that pretty soon I was only an outcast, and I only felt at home on Olympus."

"You know, Joxer, you don't have to tell me all this. I know I caught you off-guard with your mom. I'm sorry."

"No . . . I didn't realize how much I held this in. My whole life, I've never had anyone to really talk to. I need to say this. I caused my mom to go insane. I killed so many lessers," Joxer said. His voice threatened to break, but he was very good at keeping himself under control. "There were hundreds of the deities. Dahak wouldn't have dared to try and come out into the world ten years ago. Now . . . the Greek pantheon is weak; it's faltering. There's a thin thread in this world ready to break. One snap . . . and the pantheon will fall. It's coming.

"There was a time when I got so cocky, I thought I could complete my father's plan. See he had saved hind blood for years. Ares always went and gathered it from the herd, long before Zeus destroyed them because he feared their blood. Every god I killed, I sent the power to my father. He has grown in power over the years. About five years ago, I decided to take it all at once. The queen of the gods was more than enough power for Ares to take Zeus' throne.

"I was a fool. You may have vengeance in your heart, but you always gave Xena a chance to stop you. You didn't kill her family, Gabrielle, or poison a whole village to get back at people. Hera always took the extreme vengeance. Hera took my challenge and was so angry. She sent the Furies after my mom. They drove her completely insane.

"I had to bring my mom to the asylum, keeping her from slitting her own wrists. She screamed like a banshee. All because I had to be so arrogant and try and take down Hera without any proof I could. I was lucky that Hera was satisfied with my mom. She stole Hercules' whole family from him. I could have lost Jett and Jace. I could have been cursed."

Callisto saw two tears fall down Joxer's cheeks but decided not to mention them. "Don't do this," she said.

"Do what?"

"Blame yourself when it was Hera. I committed so many crimes and blamed them on Xena, but it was my doing. You shouldn't feel so guilty."

"But I do . . . it's what made me a pacifist. Even now I hate myself for giving in to war again, for fighting when before it took my mom. She wanted so badly for me to be gentle. Only Jace has succeeded at that. Still, I fight. I became that masked warrior, and I still fight."

"For good. Your mother would tell you that's the only way to exist. I know it's funny coming from me. But I finally saw when Gabrielle sacrificed herself that to live selfishly is a way of killing your own soul, bit by bit. You fight not because you want to, but because others need you to. You are not being selfish." She paused and smothered the fire. Lunch was over. "Is there any chance of saving her? Of reversing the Furies' spell?"

"Only when they're dead, and they are gods. When I jumped ship, Ares destroyed the last of the hind blood, probably because he was afraid I might use it on him. I only had enough to kill Apollo with. It's all gone now."

"Why would you use it on Ares?"

"He told me to take down Hera in the first place . . . He knew I wouldn't succeed. He wanted to teach me a lesson about arrogance. He set the whole thing up, so I would lose my mom."

"Maybe there's a better way than through violence . . ." Callisto mused and then glanced at the sky, which slowly colored into pink and red through the leaves. "I think the sun will set in about an hour," she said and drew her sword, starting to sharpen it. "If you want you can get some rest."

Joxer nodded and curled up into a corner of the tree, looking up into the leaves. "I messed up my whole life. People think I'm an idiot. Gods think I am a menace. And I destroyed the only woman who ever believed in me."

"Go to sleep, Joxer." Callisto suddenly got a gleam to her eyes. "It'll all be better in the morning."

Of course by the time night fell, when Joxer awoke, the sounds of the villagers were long gone . . . and there was no sign of Callisto.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Xena heard Ursa moving towards her a long ways off. Argo skittered a little behind her, making Xena soothe her. "It's alright, girl, it's just that look alike. I recognize her footsteps. Overly clumsy . . . as if she were being very careful. But she's harmless . . . I think."

Xena couldn't drop the feeling she had felt since meeting Ursa. A certain . . . wrongness about her. She sure seemed normal enough, so why did Xena not trust her? If Gabrielle were here, she'd ask her about it. Gabrielle always knew how to dissect the situation, but Gabrielle was off visiting her sister, and ever since the whole Hope thing, Gabrielle's family didn't quite trust Xena. Though Gabrielle explained that it was Hope that had injured her own self and not Xena, some part of their brains still thought that Xena had beaten up their daughter. It was always easier just to stay put and out of Potidaea.

So, right now, she stood on the far road north of Potidaea, waiting for Gabrielle to meet up with her again. "Hello, Ursa," Xen said as she appeared on the road.

"Hello, again," she said in that vaporous voice.

That was odd. Most people would ask how she knew they were coming, but Ursa didn't bat an eyelash, as if she had expected Xena to be expecting her. "Is there anything you needed? Where's Joxer?"

Ursa shrugged. That was strange. There were new wounds on Ursa. Where would she had picked up a bruise shaped like a mace had hit her, and were those little marks the result from tines of a pitchfork on her arms? "Joxer is off visiting with the muses of life. I needed some assistance."

"Your wounds?" Xena asked.

Ursa shook her head. "They'll heal. I was . . . I had a little trouble with farming. Anyway, I was told you have been through the Labyrinth of the Gods."

"That's a strange place to be interested in," Xena said with a raised eyebrow.

"I was told that inside that labyrinth there was a tree that grew apples that could cure any illness or madness."

Xena narrowed her eyes. "Yes, so Hercules said. Callisto and he entered that labyrinth to save his family from the poison that Callisto used on them."

Ursa didn't blink. "Yes, exactly."

"But . . . that tree burned down and all the fruit burned with it."

"Now, you know that's not the whole truth. That tree was among a grove, buried inside the Labyrinth to keep mortals away from it. There are other trees down there, right?"

Xena sighed and gestured Ursa to sit down on a nearby rock. "How do you know about the other trees?"

"I am the owner of the dreams of mankind. Of course I know!" There was that insanity again, but Xena noticed she didn't answer her question.

"Well, yes, there is a grove. I only ever told Ares about my journey down there. Is he the one who told you?"

"Yes, he wanted me as a warrior. When I first met him, he tried to convince me to be his warrior with promises of immortality."

"Why, because you looked like Callisto?" Xena asked.

Ursa didn't answer again. "He told me you had gone down there but there were traps that normal mortals couldn't hope to bypass, but that you did."

"That was a long time ago. Ten years to be exact. I was so obsessed with the idea of power and becoming a Destroyer of Nations that I was willing to undergo any trial. After I failed with the Ixion stone . . . and I had lost . . . everything, I assumed I'd feel better after gaining more power so I took my army down there. There were no survivors, except me."

Xena hoped that would scare Ursa off, but all she did was nod. "Exactly why I need you. There is someone that has been touched by the Furies. I'm sure you know how horrible that can be. If I can get a fruit from the tree, it will cure her—just one piece would do."

Xena didn't know how to respond. There was a huge feeling in her gut that told her Ursa was something else. But how could she be? She had succumbed to her pinch, and now it seemed she actually _cared_ about someone. Just because she looked so identical to Callisto didn't give Xena a right to mistrust her. After all, Meg, Diana, and Leah were completely different from her.

"You willing do anything it takes to save this friend of yours? Because it takes everything in you."

"I have been willing to give up everything in me for a while now. I have to do this. All I need is your help."

"Alright, deal." She reached out her arm, and Ursa shook it. Xena stared into eyes so familiar and yet foreign. How could this woman have the same eyes as Callisto had? Meg and Diana and Leah had different eyes, same color but different souls peering out. "Let me just tell Gabrielle and . . ."

"I had hoped it'd just be us. Gabrielle shouldn't suffer the Labyrinth's ire."

Xena nodded. This was so strange. If anyone asked, she'd say she was talking to Callisto, but where was the hate? And there was genuine care for Gabrielle. She couldn't be Callisto . . . could she?

"Alright, I'll send word when I see the nearest messenger that I got caught up with something. Gabrielle was going to spend only a day with Lila and her parents but she could easily have a week sojourn. Are you ready for this?"

Ursa nodded and peered behind her suddenly. "We'd better be moving now."

Xena nodded, climbed aboard Argo, and Ursa climbed up behind her, careful not to touch her. Then they were off. Xena could have sworn she heard yells behind her. When she glanced back, it looked as if a mob had gathered in the spot she had left.

Had they been after Ursa?


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter Sixteen

The entrance to the Labyrinth of the Gods was about the same as Callisto remembered, the same ugly mechanical muzzle that shot fire. The door as usual was wide open, but a wall of fire would greet any who didn't answer the riddle. Callisto hoped it'd be the same riddle as last time, but she wasn't counting on it.

"So, are we going in?" Xena asked, after she let Argo roam.

Callisto heard a hidden suspicion in Xena's voice, but Callisto wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Even after all this, Xena still was wondering. Why would Ursa hesitate when the door was wide open, unless she was Callisto and knew about the fire?

"You are the Warrior Princess, and I am a servant to the stars. Royalty always leads, right?" Callisto asked innocently, and Xena wrinkled her brow. Ha! Got her!

"It's not that easy," Xena said. "There are safeguards, such as . . ." She walked forward and suddenly, the mechanical head came alive, throwing fire across the already blackened wall around the door.

"Know this: all who seek passage here must answer my riddle."

"I'm not one for riddles," Xena said and threw her chakram. Within seconds, the ugly head was sliced clean off and lying on the ground, saying, "Infidels . . ." Then it faded into nothing. Catching the chakram, Xena gestured to Callisto. "There's no royalty here. Go ahead of me."

 _So she can watch me_ , Callisto thought with a smile but did as Xena asked. Now that she wasn't trying to kill Xena or stop her, it was almost pleasant to be alongside her. There was always that admiration Callisto had for her. When she had been following her every move from Chin to the Norse country, she had seen what kind of woman Xena was. It was why it had taken such a long time to finally make her move. Callisto had had the skills to take Xena down for at least three years before Xena changed to good.

Callisto remembered the rage all too well when she had found out that Xena was now a hero. After all she had done! Now . . . the rage that had been like a thorn in her side had been plucked, and she was free to feel the admiration.

"Do we need a torch?" Callisto said as they reached the darkened interiors.

"Not where we're going," Xena said and went towards the left, pressing a few bricks until a door opened, revealing a very well-lit tunnel. "Do you think the gods like stumbling around in the dark? They too have to travel as mortals inside here, so Hephaestus a long time ago made sure the hallways were bright and cheery."

Both entered only to be greeted by a hallway of skeletons. "Cheery, you said?" Callisto asked.

"My men," Xena said with a frown. "These are just the beginning. Unfortunately, the gods also don't know how to clean up their rooms."

The two walked in silence for a few minutes. Callisto cast gazes at Xena that she hoped were not obvious. There had always been an obsession with this woman, the one who destroyed her life. Callisto had hoped it had ended with her vengeance, but it couldn't. Xena was almost like a mother to her: she had created her. The only family she had left . . .

"Why are you looking at me, Ursa?" Xena questioned.

"You have some dirt on your face," Callisto quickly covered. And it was true. A smudge from the caves' walls had smeared her face.

"Thanks," Xena said, "but I don't really care."

Suddenly, the hallway opened up into a magnificent chamber of gold bricked tiles. There was sand covering almost every inch of floor, except for a few small patches of ground, and all above hundreds of torches hung down, glimmering like tiny stars overhead.

"Stay off the sand," Xena advised. "This is the Hall of Quicksand."

"Aptly named," Callisto said. Suddenly, a huge amount of superstitious fear fell over her. This was strange. Callisto had never really felt fear before. She had been too numb. But when she looked at the sand, knowing what it was . . . suddenly she was inside that sand—it was closing in. Her nostrils were filled—she couldn't breathe, she was dying!

"Ursa!" Xena said, giving her a shake.

She came back to awareness. She wasn't in the quicksand. It was her death she was reliving. She waited for the familiar anger to creep up. After all Xena could have saved her, but she didn't. But that rage was gone. All Callisto could think was, _I would have done the same thing to me_. So, all she wanted to do was cry. It was no wonder she had held that anger so closely around her heart. Feeling this sorrow was too hard.

"What is it, Ursa?" Xena asked, noticing the tears falling down her cheeks. There wasn't any suspicion in her voice. Callisto guessed it was because the old Callisto would never cry.

"I . . ." _Think like Joxer, think like Joxer_ "I stubbed my toe."

"You what?" Xena demanded. Callisto knew that had been a horrible lie, but she was panicking. Being in this room, full of the thing that had ended her life. She couldn't think properly.

"Let's just get out of here." Callisto took a step forward, willing herself to get past her fear. Everything in her wanted to run the other way. _Just one foot in front of the other_ , she told herself.

"The trick to getting past fear," Xena said, making Callisto turn towards her with surprise. Had she seen through her façade? "Is to face it full on," Xena continued. "I can see that you're afraid of the quicksand, Ursa. Don't be among it. Go above your fears." She pulled out a whip and struck upwards, hitting one of the heavy torches above and winding around the strong metal base. Giving it a tug to make sure it was held tight, she handed it to Callisto. "Go ahead. Fly over your troubles."

Callisto gave Xena a look of gratitude and swung herself over all that sand, landing by the doorway. Before she could throw it back to Xena, Xena was already flipping with a mighty, "yi-yi-yi" over the sand. "Thanks, but I don't need it. I can fly on my own," Xena said to the shocked Callisto.

The door led to another room, this time to a room full of fire. Xena glanced at Callisto. "Ursa, are you afraid of fire?"

"Of course not!" Callisto said with offense. She had been the goddess of fire. It had always been a part of her . . . ever since Xena had destroyed her village. Uh-oh . . . "What is this place?!"

"It has a psychic ability. Whoever enters the lower areas must face their inner demons unless they have learned to control their inner demons. This is why my men died so utterly. I had no idea the monsters under my command. They did, though, and they tortured themselves with their own crimes. Had I even one loyal and noble warrior, he or she would have survived. One with no guilt has nothing to fear."

"You have no guilt?" Callisto asked.

"I've learned to live with it, to fight through what I've done. I can't let guilt bury me anymore."

Houses appeared in the fire, and one could hear wails from inside the burning buildings. Callisto turned pale and fell to her knees. She could hear her mother's screams . . . where was her sister? Why couldn't she find her sister? Her father . . . he ran out of the house, carrying her mother—both were on fire.

Suddenly, Callisto lost all pretense. She was back to that little girl. Her world was dying around her, and she could see Xena on her horse, surveying the area with a detached expression. But the rage wasn't here. Devastation . . . everything was ash. She wanted to die herself.

"Callisto!" Xena said, shaking her again. "You're going to burn us both. Get control! This isn't Cirra. This is a torture made up by the Labyrinth. Focus . . . there was nothing you could have done. Forget that guilt."

Callisto focused on her words and focused on other things: her sister playing hide and seek in the forest . . . warm bread right out of the oven. Gathering the fall's fruits as they fell, ripe and warm from their perches. Climbing trees with her sister . . .

Suddenly, the unrelenting heat was gone, and Callisto turned a tear-stained face towards Xena. "I . . ." Then she realized there was nothing she could say to lie this time. Xena had read her like an open book and had still helped her. "I'm sorry. I survived the dagger."

"One part of you did," Xena said, helping Callisto to stand, who just felt too weak to do it on her own. "I have heard that mortals who became gods split into two, the god side and the mortal side. When I stabbed you, the dagger must have taken only the god and left you. What made you change so utterly? I've looked into your eyes. You care. There is no more anger. Where did it go?"

"I wasn't lying," Callisto said, and they started forward again, wanting to get out of this room. "Seeing Gabrielle sacrifice herself made me realize that there was more to life than vengeance. She was so selfless . . ."

"That's Gabrielle's middle name," Xena said with a smile, and then her eyes widened. "You brought her to that hospice, didn't you?"

"Let's not talk about that," Callisto said. "It can't even for a second compare with all the crimes I have done."

"No, but everyone has to start somewhere. I started by not allowing my men to kill a baby. You started by risking your own life to save Gabrielle. That's impressive."

Callisto started to feel a blush coming on. Now, this was too uncomfortable for words. She knew how to handle an angry Xena and a Xena who condescended to her, but one who admired her right back? She had to change the subject fast. "We need to get out of here. I still need that fruit."

"Wait, does Joxer know who you really are?"

Callisto deliberated. Then she sighed. "No one knows who I _really_ am," Callisto hedged. She had to keep his secret at least. "I'm more interested in Lockinus. I have teamed up with him. His mother has been placed under the Furies' curse, and the fruit here will cure her."

"That masked warrior?" Xena said. "You actually trust him?"

"I know what's under the mask, and it's good, so yes, I do."

Xena shook her head. "Okay, so let's get going."

There was another solitary door and through that was a very clean white room . . . with masks floating all around. "This time it's your fault," Callisto pointed out.

The masks advanced.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter Seventeen

 _Sorry for the delay in this chapter, but life gets in the way. Fearforget is sorry . . . maybe._

The masks were easily dealt with thanks to Xena's superior sense of self control. Callisto only begrudged her a little for that. It made sense that Xena would have long ago learned how to shut off her feelings in order to get the job done. Callisto wished she could do the same.

"It takes a lot of practice," Xena pointed out as they went through empty corridors, having passed the worst of it. "If you are sincere in a new start, you'll learn . . . I just hope you have someone that can get you through like I have Gabrielle."

Callisto thought of Joxer. He wasn't exactly Gabrielle, but Callisto was glad he wasn't. He had lived through the same things she had. He knew what it was like to be a murderer. Gabrielle, with her one time kill of Meridian, in defense of others, couldn't possibly understand.

"I have someone . . ."

Xena looked curious. "Is it Joxer? Because though he has a heart of gold, I don't know if he will help through your dark times."

"We have different ideas of darkness," Callisto retorted. "No matter how bad you think you were, you have nothing on me. When you have more to atone for, someone like Gabrielle isn't the best choice."

Xena shook her head. Callisto knew she didn't understand, and that was fine. If she did that stupid spell of Joxer's might kill her. Callisto decided to talk about his persona. "I like silly fools."

Xena shrugged. "Me, too, but I wouldn't call him a silly fool, maybe a bit misguided."

 _Great,_ Callisto thought, _I talk about his skills and it could kill her. I say how he's an idiot, and she defends him. I can't win here._

Luckily, Callisto didn't have to talk about Joxer anymore, as another one of the labyrinth's charming traps found them. This time it had nothing to do with either of their issues.

"A dragon?!" Callisto demanded. Sure enough, there was a dragon inside the next humongous cavern. Behind it was a dead end, an endless and fathomless abyss that fell into deep blackness. On the other side was another door, but first one had to get past the brightly colored red dragon, which barely fit on this side of the abyss. Just its mouth could swallow Argo whole, though Callisto didn't mention that fact to Xena. Callisto's mind always went to strange imaginations that others didn't like sharing. It had helped fuel her villainy. Now that she was _trying_ to redeem herself, she had to keep a stronger control on those weird images.

Xena flipped to the side as the dragon blew fire. Callisto didn't move. She was still somewhat used to being the one who controlled fire, not the victim, so Xena had to tackle her in the next minute to keep the fire from eating her face.

"Hey, I don't care if you have a death wish again," Xena said sternly, "but don't you have a mission? One more stupid move like that, and you'll fail. Is that what you want?"

Callisto conceded her point. She had to focus better. So she ran right towards the dragon and flipped over the oncoming fire with one of her tremendous screams. It terrified the dragon who suddenly stopped on its haunches. It wasn't used to meals screaming at it. That was all Callisto needed to jump onto its back and start whispering in its ear.

"Hey, I love fire. In a way I love you," she said in soft tones. "That was an impressive display. I know what it's like to feel so angry you just want to spit fire. But I'm a friend. I once owned fire, too. Can we get along? Would you mind taking me and . . . Xena across this abyss?"

The dragon stopped bucking and settled down with each whisper. Then it inclined its long and serpentine neck to the ground. "That's a yes?" Callisto asked and smiled. "Hey, Xena I just secured a ride while you were resting. Want to come?"

Xena just shook her head and yipped her way on to the back of the dragon behind Callisto. "What did you say to the dragon?"

"I just told it that we have a mutual bond. Fire unites creatures."

"That is the strangest thing I have ever heard you say," Xena said. "You're bonded with a dragon because of fire?"

"You know how powerful it is. Even you couldn't control it . . . right? Twice by my count."

Xena fell silent and mentioned nothing more about fire. The dragon made short work of the abyss and settled down on the opposite side. Xena and Callisto slid off its back, and it went back to guarding the other side. Callisto watched it go with a frown.

"What's wrong?"

"I just thought about how lonely it must be down here. Set up by the gods just to guard a passage that no one in their right mind would want to travel. So all it gets are villains, crazy people, gods, and maybe Hercules."

"Everyone has their own cross to bear. Personally, some solitude might be nice," Xena mused. Callisto shook her head. Xena had no idea how hard lengthy solitude could be. She had never been trapped in rocks, held in prison for a long time or trapped in Tartarus or encased in lava. Being alone with only you can make a person desperate. Callisto had gone more and more insane with every entrapment, but why bring that up now?

It seemed that the dragon was the last defense, because as they entered through the last alcove, an amazing scent filled their nostrils before they even saw the grove. The whole area shined like gold, as each apple shined with its golden sheen. There had to be a thousand trees with a dozen or so apples on each branch. As Callisto marveled at the beauty, she saw why there were so many protections to this area. It could make an army of immortals.

"Don't get too excited," Xena said. "If you don't know the exact apple to pick, the others go off like Greek fire."

"You're kidding!"

"Nope. It's the last line of defense. The gods don't want anyone to create an army of immortals except them. The gods know which apple to take, but mortals . . . are clueless. It's why I gave up on my own plans so long ago. But at least you can get one . . . but then we'll have to run like Tartarus."

"Great plan . . ."

"But we don't need more than one, right Callisto?" Xena asked with suspicion.

"If you're asking if all this was a clever ruse so that I could become immortal again, let me tell you a secret. Being an immortal was the worst part of any of my transformations. From girl to woman, from immortal to god, from dead to alive . . . all had their benefits. But being immortal? You don't have blood to lose, so you don't feel alive, and you don't have powers to cause destruction." She noticed Xena's look. "Or help people," she amended. "You just are . . . there. It was like you are frozen in one moment of life. I wouldn't have that experience again for any reward. You'll just have to trust me. This is for Lockinus' mother. She will get one bite, and I will leave the rest with you for safekeeping. Deal?"

"There's just one question I have before we set off things that could destroy us. Is this really worth it? Is it going to work? I mean you ate one, and it certainly didn't cure your madness."

"My madness came from my past, from the damage taken when I was only a child. That stays with you no matter what cures you find. The Furies, like all other gods, just take what the human mind is capable of and manipulate it, but as you know human emotions run deeper than the gods' interference." Callisto looked away from Xena. Just talking about this was making her remember how deeply she had fallen.

"Okay," Xena said, "then get ready to run. Which apple?"

"This one," Callisto said and grabbed the nearest one. In unison the rest, snapped! And then one by one the whole cavern started groaning as explosions started. Through the door, Xena and Callisto had already run. With a whistle, Callisto asked the dragon to pick them up again.

Noticing that the explosions had started interfering with the structure of the cavern, she whispered in its ear. "You can't stay here. You'll die. Whatever reason you were guarding this place, it's over now. Do you know a way out?"

The dragon didn't respond, but it started flying upwards through the cavern instead of heading towards the door it had been going towards before. The cavern's roof showed overhead, and the dragon was headed right towards it, even as fire leaped from underneath.

"This wasn't such a good idea," Xena noted. "I think it's going to smash us into goo at the top of the ceiling."

"Trust in its instincts," Callisto responded, and sure enough right before smashing into the ceiling, the dragon took a sharp left and shot out through a tunnel that was barely visible. Finally, the trio shot out into the sun, as the tunnels collapsed inwards, leaving only rubble.

The dragon landed outside and allowed Xena and Callisto off, before it took off into the sky, saying one word before it did, "Thanks."

"It could talk?" Xena demanded.

"What, Hercules never told you?" Callisto asked. "He met up with a dragon a few times."

"Hercules and I don't talk that much. It's just hard to believe."

"Why? Beings with less intelligence talk all the time; look at the gods."

"Very true. Well, that was an interesting day. You have to get back to Lockinus' mother, and I need to meet up with . . ."

Suddenly she was interrupted by a swell of angry shouts and screams, as a mob of at least a hundred people cleared a nearby ridge. "Great . . .," Callisto muttered. "They found me."

"They're under the Furies' spell," Xena noted.

"Yep, and you know how that is. I might as well be a fox and they're the hounds. That spell led them right to me." Callisto sighed. "It's been nice, Xena, but I need to try and get out of here without hurting them. You'll be safe enough as they follow me."

Xena got a sudden gleam to her eyes. She remembered what it was like to be at the mercy of the Furies. "I'm not too concerned with hurting them," she said. "Care to dance?" she asked the rampaging mob.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

The mob of Furies' worshippers stopped en masse when they saw Xena: she had that effect on people. Callisto wondered if Xena's reputation would be enough to stop Furies-maddened villagers. One of them decided to become the mob's spokesperson and stepped forward.

"You're Xena, aren't you?"

"You've heard of me? Then you might want to turn your mob around and go the other direction."

"We have heard of you, but we know you more by the Furies' spell. Our whole village was about to go and look for you when the Furies took your spell off. It's a shame we didn't get our hands on you."

"Yes, I'm sure I would have enjoyed your company," Xena said.

"These are just innocent villagers," Callisto whispered nearby, surprised that she of all people had to remind Xena of that fact. "We need to stop them with little to no casualties. It's not their fault the Furies have them under their spell."

"Well, Callisto, you are still surprising me that you actually care about people, but in this case you're wrong. The persecution that I felt wasn't an all-encompassing spell over people that can't fight it. Otherwise Gabrielle would have tried to bring me in. No, these people have chosen their paths. They feel the thrill of the hunt, the desire to draw blood, which makes them just as guilty as any warlord. The Furies just pointed that feeling towards you, just as they did with me."

Callisto was relieved, and yet . . . she still couldn't bring herself to attack in full force, even as the mob decided to stop talking and start fighting. The little bit of guilt she still held stopped the desire to fight back. This wasn't the case with Xena. She still loved to fight. By herself, she was taking down the entire mob with her war cry and Chakram. Though, she seemed to want to dance with the group. She threw her Chakram unlike any other time. She kicked by spinning into the air.

Finally, the mob decided that the thrill of the hunt wasn't as alluring as saving their own skins, so they all ran off. Xena spun to a stop and landed right next to Callisto. "Well, that was fun."

"You know, you do have really good moves that I've seen you use against me. Why didn't you use any? And you left openings a few times by trying that weird jump kick spin."

"Wait, are you criticizing my fighting?" Xena asked in disbelief. "Look, I have my own style of fighting. I hate doing the same thing twice in any fight. Makes me predictable, something a warrior can't afford to be. Besides, you didn't even fight back at all. Is that why you were wounded before?"

"I just can't bring myself to kill people who are only trying to bring me in for justice. I deserve all of this."

Xena was quiet for a few seconds. "Then that's why the Furies are able to do this to you. Callisto, the gods don't give us anything that isn't already in our hearts. That's why I was able to fend off my madness a bit and turn the tables on the Furies. After that whole thing, I looked into how the Furies attack. They only sent a few useless warriors after me, because I have learned to live with the guilt in my heart, to understand it but not let it get to me. Orestes hadn't been able to do that, so he was tormented for a very long time. You are just starting to feel that fire of guilt burn its way through your heart. You can't even defend yourself."

"And should I? If I die because of punishment, it's just justice."

"That's what you have to talk to yourself about. Is it justice? Isn't it more just to make up for what you did _before_ you leave this mortal realm? You have to leave your guilt behind or if not then just understand that it is a fire that can burn both ways. It can burn in destruction and leave your heart a shell or it can fuel a fire of justice and even out a world a little tilted when it comes to justice."

Callisto listened or tried to. Maybe Xena was right . . . but how could Callisto _really_ believe that?

"Well, I guess I'm . . ."

She was interrupted by a voice yelling, "Xena!" and Gabrielle came running up, out of breath.

"Man, you're hard to track down today, Xena," Gabrielle said, flinching a bit at Callisto and then shaking her head. "Oh, hi Ursa."

"Gabrielle, how did you find us, I mean me?"

"Tracking, of course. I tracked your footprints to the Labyrinth of the Gods. The entrance had collapsed, so I bought a map off a nearby peddler and saw that there were quite a few entrances. I just checked each one, and then I heard the sound of battle. Of course, that's where you were. What's going on? And why didn't you wait for me?"

"She was helping me . . .," Ursa said, back to her breathy voice. "I needed to get an apple for Lockinus' mother."

"One bite of that fruit can cure almost any illness," Gabrielle said, her mouth forming an amazed O. "And a whole one makes you immortal."

"I think that's just a myth," Callisto said quickly. Xena shot her a look. Xena wasn't used to pretense from Callisto.

"Oh, no, it's real," Gabrielle said. "I've seen it."

"You know, Gabrielle. C . . . Ursa was just leaving. Let's go. I think I saw a tavern nearby. How about a meal?"

"Wait, Xena," Gabrielle said. "Ursa is going off with a bite of this special fruit to cure someone, and you're just letting her go? Why not help? I mean, if anyone finds out Ursa is carrying such a prize, she could run into danger on the road, and that fight I heard just now is a perfect example."

"She doesn't want our help," Xena said, trying to end this conversation. She hated lying to Gabrielle, and though she hadn't really, yet, it was getting dangerously close.

"Since when has that stopped you?" Gabrielle demanded. "Come on. You can't judge her by her appearance. I know it's hard. I can't stand her face. No offense," she added to Callisto, who just gave a sickly smile.

"It's alright," Callisto said. "I can manage."

"Oh wow! Two stubborn women," Gabrielle said, now exasperated. "No more arguments from either of you! We will all go together, and I don't want to hear another word from either of you." With that she gave a pointed glance at the road and started walking. "So, where are we going?"

Callisto allowed Gabrielle to get a few feet in front of them when she turned to Xena, "Now I see why you couldn't shake her. This is going to require more lies. Are you alright with that?"

"No, I'm not. But I'm more uneasy with her having to deal with the fact that you are still alive and well. I'll manage."

So, they started walking. Callisto felt the shaky ground with which they all stood. She didn't want Xena coming along as much as Xena hadn't wanted to come along. If Joxer was still in the area where she left him, he'd have to pull up his act very quickly. Then there was the fact that Gabrielle knew nothing of her existence and hated her with every bit of energy she could.

Callisto, if she didn't tread very carefully, would sink into this mire of complicated relationships just as she had once sunk into the quicksand so long ago.


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter Nineteen

Joxer the Mighty was confused. Callisto had ran off in the middle of the night and left him by the Furies' village. He had had two choices, head back to his mom and finish the conversation and leave Callisto on her own—she could more than take care of herself—or go after her and see if the Furies' mobs were still hunting her.

He couldn't help it. He went after Callisto. For years he had watched Xena and Gabrielle's friendship, always wishing he had that. Now he had Callisto, not as a sidekick, certainly! But just like Gabrielle with Xena, he couldn't allow her to just face those people by herself. Even if he couldn't fight alongside her, as he'd kill people, he could at least lend her moral support.

Once again, he cursed mentally that he hadn't heard her run off. Some son of a god he turned out to be! Her footprints were easy to track. It wasn't hard with a mob of villagers on her tail. Suddenly, his extra hearing heard a strange thing: he was being talked about!

Okay, Lockinus was being talked about, if one wanted to be specific. He heard a familiar voice say, "We're almost to the Furies' village and Lockinus' mother."

It was Gabrielle! How did she know about his mom? That question wasn't answered as he went towards the sound of the voices. Skirting the road and making sure to step as lightly as the wind, he saw that Callisto was with Xena and Gabrielle, walking towards the Furies' village! No mob was following her. What was going on? Before he could wonder too much, he slipped ahead of the road and ran between trees, making sure to trip over the pebbles as Xena, Gabrielle and Callisto came around the bend.

"Oops," he said and looked up at the three. "I'm just doing, um, push-ups, to tone my mighty muscles!" Joxer said and stood up. "Soooo, where are the three of you off to?"

"We're off to cure Lockinus' mother," Callisto said quickly, giving him a look. "Xena was kind enough to help me go to the Labyrinth of the Gods, and through _fire_ and trouble helped me get the apple to cure Lockinus' mother."

Joxer got the hidden message. Gabrielle didn't know that she was Callisto, but Xena did. But what floored him was what she said. A cure? For his mom? He didn't know how long he stood there looking stunned, but Callisto quickly covered for him. "I'm sure Lockinus would be happy to know this."

"I don't get it," Gabrielle said and they started walking again. "What did Lockinus' mother do that set the Furies on her anyway?"

Callisto shot a look towards Joxer and answered. "Who knows?"

"Knowing Ares' offspring, he probably killed someone and the Furies punished the mother for it," Xena said.

"Yep, that's probably exactly it!" Joxer said. And he wasn't lying, again. It had all happened when he went after Hera . . . "Are we going to cure Lockinus' mom?"

"That's the idea. I'm going to ride ahead to the village," Xena said and jumped on Argo. "Gabrielle, you want to come with me?" Gabrielle nodded and Xena pulled her up behind her. The two galloped off ahead of Callisto and Joxer.

Joxer's goofy demeanor instantly fell. "Callisto! What's going on? What happened to the mob? Why didn't you stay put? What is this all about?"

"A cure, Joxer. It's true: Xena and I went into the Labyrinth of the Gods and got the apple."

Joxer looked aghast.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem pleased." Callisto scowled at him.

"Don't get me wrong. I am . . . It's just . . . My mother, well, she has been insane for a long time. She never knew I turned good. Sure, I want her well again. I just don't know . . ."

"How she's going to react to you? I know . . . Did I ever tell you how my mother spoke to me in Tartarus? I was in Xena's body . . . and my mother stood there and condemned me. All my escapades against Xena were always made alright, because I knew—knew!—that my mother would be behind me, cheering me on. But when she looked at me . . . and told me I had to face my crimes . . . I think I snapped a little bit more after that. It was my breaking point. Is that what you're afraid of?"

Joxer couldn't answer any other way but, "Yes. I lived with the guilt for so long, I never understood how I'd feel if she were cured." Joxer sighed, and Callisto placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"It's time to find out, Joxer. But let's talk about damage control. Xena knows who I am, but Gabrielle doesn't"

"How'd you manage that?" Joxer asked curiously.

"Xena and I bonded in the Labyrinth, and Xena never wants Gabrielle to suffer at all. She still hates me." Callisto looked away. "I did kill her husband. Anyway, we can't let on to Gabrielle that I am Callisto, and you have to make sure your mom doesn't start saying who you really are."

"You know I've never really lied to Xena and Gabrielle. I'm not going to start now. She is my mom, and Ares is my father."

"You're going to say you're Ares' son? Are you crazy?"

"Nope!" Joxer said with a smile.

The two met up with Xena and Gabrielle inside the village. The villagers that had chased Callisto had already returned, but stayed far away from Xena. As Callisto and Joxer stopped in front of Xena and Gabrielle, Xena said, "This place reeks of the Furies. Are you sure they won't cause problems while we're curing Lockinus' mom?"

"Actually, she's my mom, too!" Joxer said. "I'm son of Ares, too! I'm a half-god!" He quickly fell face flat in the dirt. "See my godly powers and reflexes!"

Xena and Gabrielle just looked at him. "Sure," Xena said.

"No, really, she is my mom!"

"I buy that," Gabrielle said trying not to laugh. "But I think Lockinus is more a half-brother than a full," she whispered to Xena, but Joxer heard easily and smiled.

"No half-god I know would be that clumsy," Xena agreed but then turned to Joxer. "Well, Joxer, maybe it's time you introduced us to your mother."

"Alright! Follow me!" Joxer said and gave Callisto a secret wink, who just shook her head. How did he do that? They didn't believe a word he said, but they still considered him a valued friend?

As they entered into the asylum, the people left them alone, and Joxer led the trio all to the cell his mother was in. She saw him and started moaning, "Blood, blood." Joxer suddenly got the point of what they were doing here. Everything had been so quick, that he hadn't really gotten the point that this apple would cure his mom.

Everything would be fine . . . an image popped into his head, of before, when she had sung him that song of his, in her own way begging him to be peaceful, to be the musician she wanted instead of the warrior Ares wanted. He could finally tell her how he'd been spending his last years. But maybe he'd just leave out Lockinus and the recent events.

"Here, Joxer," Callisto said, "go on and give it to her."

Gabrielle smiled and nodded to him, and even Xena looked interested. He held out the apple, and his mother stopped saying, "Blood," and took it. The apple smelled so good, even he was tempted to ask for a bite, but he knew better. His mother, however, greedily bit into it and suddenly . . . her eyes cleared. There was no insanity, no Furies, only the soft and gentle eyes he knew better than anyone's.

"Mom," he said, choked up.

"Joxer . . ."


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter Twenty

The Furies watched the humongous screen in front of them, watching in angered silence as Joxer awoke his mother from their spell. Of all the ones in their grasps, she was the one they were most proud of. But now? "I so hate him," Alecto said with a sigh.

"I want to make him mad!" Tisiphone yelled. "This is ridiculous. Mortals should fear us. If this gets out, we'll look like laughingstocks!"

"Eh, who cares?" Megaera said. "Having Joxer's mother was like asking for trouble. You know how he used to be . . . who wants the hind's blood turned on us?"

"Oh, shut up!" Alecto said and picked up a vase of flowers and threw it at Megaera's face. "We are Furies three. We have to be unanimous."

"Fine!" Megaera said. "Then what should we do? There isn't anything we can do."

"No . . . there's nothing we can do, but . . . I'm wondering if there's something Joxer can do. Thanks to Justice's spell, we can't even tell mortals who Joxer really is, but . . . why not allow Joxer to tell people. If he kills his own friends, no one would dare mess with us ever again."

Megaera said nothing. She didn't want another vase thrown at her head, but Tisiphone spoke up. "But Joxer would never let anything on! He has more control that way than anyone. He mixes honest truth with blatant lies. It's hard to fight."

"I was just thinking," Alecto said, a grin lighting up her face as she summoned a box of chocolates and started eating as they floated into her mouth. "About the time that Ares switched the bodies of Xena and Callisto . . . If Xena had held a secret in her psyche, Callisto would have found out. Joxer and Xena should get closer, don't you think? And there is no closer place than home."

Joxer's mother recovered as well as was expected. Xena watched with a small smile on her face. It was best not to show how happy this made her. Anything to get back at the Furies for what they had done, for what had almost happened to Xena's own mother.

But playing the stoic warrior was as ingrained in her as was breathing. She knew she didn't fool Gabrielle, though, as she clutched her arm and said, "I know, Xena. I'm happy, too." Gabrielle said it under her breath, still respecting Xena's wishes.

"Well, my mother needs rest!" Joxer announced. "I say we get her to the next town and far away from this rat-hole."

"I couldn't agree more," Xena said. "It's nice to meet you, uh . . ."

"Saradora," she said and shook Xena's hand. "So, you're Joxer's friend. Tell me about him."

"Oh, Gabrielle is better at that," Xena said quickly. "But what you can do is ride on Argo, and we can travel together."

Joxer and Callisto stared at each other, making Xena wonder what was up. "No, I'll get my own horse," Joxer said. "It's best for you to um, get back to traveling. That past of yours won't redeem itself!"

"Joxer, surely we can all travel together," Gabrielle said. "What's the matter? Don't want your mother telling childhood stories?" she quipped.

Once again, Joxer and Callisto shared a glance. There was something up there. "Look, if you don't want us there, Joxer, just say so. I know there's a band of Dahak followers heading towards Ellipses a small group of villages not far from here. I don't think they are anything serious, but better safe than sorry. So, what do you want?"

"I'm taking my mom home," Joxer said, not looking at Xena. "I'd appreciate it if you, um, weren't here."

Xena nodded. That was that. "Let's go, Gabrielle."

Gabrielle looked disappointed but agreed, and they walked out. "Wow, that was weird."

"Weirder than normal Joxer?" Xena joked.

"Well, I thought he'd be more . . . appreciative at the very least. He seemed as if he was more worried than ever before."

"It's hard getting your mother back. When I was Warlord Xena, I didn't see my mother for . . . at least ten years. When I returned . . . well, let's just say I didn't want an audience. If you had shown up when she was still in the inn, I wouldn't have been as receptive as I was."

"You turned your back on me, and I had to use the 'I saved your life' card. That was receptive?!" Gabrielle demanded.

"I was a warm Teddy bear compared to what I would have been," Xena joked. "Come on," she added, pulling Gabrielle up on the back of Argo. "I wasn't lying about the Dahak members. They've been growing. I'm not sure why. I thought Dahak was long since stymied."

Gabrielle was silent. "After all this . . . after Hope . . . He can't be able to come out into the world, can he?"

"Let's find out," Xena said and urged Argo into a run. She didn't see the Furies behind her, all three dancing on the village gates chanting a weird chant:

"Oh, masters of might and mind,

Leave Xena's body far behind,

Pull Joxer, too

Let them have a lot to do!"

As she rode, Xena started feeling very strange, and her eyes glanced back once at the Furies' village. For a split second, she saw two things, she saw from inside the village, next to Callisto. She saw from outside with Gabrielle. She then blacked out.


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter Twenty-One

Joxer was trying to find someone to give him a horse, and more than that trying to desperately ignore the looks his mother was giving him. "Just one stinking horse!" he tried not to yell.

"Uh-uh," the stable master said. "You brought the Furies' wrath down on your heads. No one in this village is going to help you."

Joxer groaned. "Sometimes I wonder . . ."

"Just drop it, Joxer. We need to get out of this town," Callisto said. "I wouldn't want to owe anyone here a favor anyway."

"Okay, Joxer," his mother said as they started walking. "Are you going to fill me in on what's going on? I remember the insanity. And now, after almost killing the queen of the gods, you're skulking around with Xena and Callisto?"

"See, this is why I wanted Xena and Gabrielle to leave!" Joxer said, looking around desperately to make sure no one had overheard. "Mom . . ." Then he got a funny look in his eyes.

"Joxer, you okay?" Callisto asked.

Joxer shook his head and then with horror stared at Callisto. "It's . . ." What it was never left his mouth, as he collapsed.

Everything seemed to flip upside down, and when he came to, he started looking around desperately for the Furies. He had felt a massive spell they were doing, and that meant it was really bad. Was it after his mother again? He swung from side to side in the saddle . . . wait, saddle? Since when was he on a horse? His armor was awfully uncomfortable. He didn't have that much armor! What had the Furies done? And why was he on Argo? And why was there someone behind him with arms around his waist?

That last fact startled him so much he spun around and subsequently fell off the horse.

"Xena? Are you okay?"

"Xena!" Joxer screeched, and really he hadn't had that tone of voice since before puberty. Oh, Gods, what had they done? This was not good!

"Gabrielle! I, um." How to handle this . . . how . . . well, as usual he fell back to his old stand-by of telling the truth. "The Furies switched my body with Xena's!"

Gabrielle started to laugh and then realized that Xena would never make this kind of joke. Gabrielle closed her eyes, counted to ten and then opened them again. "Okay, Joxer, what did you do?!"

"Why did I have to have done something?" Joxer asked, offended.

"Because you're Joxer! You always do something. What god did you annoy? Did you make faces at the Furies or something? Maybe you tripped into a statue of Aphrodite. Or better yet maybe you called Ares Jellybutt again."

"No! I told you it was the Furies! They have always wanted to get at me. They can't go directly, so they used the old switching bodies trick."

"Right, Joxer. Don't you think it's more likely they were after Xena?"

Joxer shrugged. No, he didn't think so, but it could have been nothing personal against him. "Maybe."

"Well, let's go find you . . . I mean, Xena in your body. Geez, I think Xena's going to have a complex someday with all the bodies she's been in."

"Do you think she'll pick up my swagger? Because that'd be neat!" Joxer said, but inside his stomach was churning ever since Gabrielle had said Xena in his body. She was inside his body! With a sudden chill, he knew exactly why the Furies had done this. If Xena found out about him in his body, she'd be immune as long as she was in his body, but when she returned to her own . . . death!

"Can we run?" Joxer asked.

"How about gallop?" Gabrielle asked with a withering look at him. "We do have Argo, and I'm not sure even Hercules can run that fast."

Unfortunately, Argo took one look at Joxer in Xena's body gave a pathetic whinny and ran off into the horizon. "I don't think she's coming back," Joxer noted.

"Of course not!" Gabrielle said throwing her hands up in the air. "She's still spooked about body switching from Callisto's time, and she's never liked you."

"Hey! I saved her life!"

"I could spend an hour debating that with you," Gabrielle said with a push to Joxer to start walking, "but this is not the time. Let's go find Xena and see what we can do to fix this."

"As fast as possible," Joxer muttered.

"Joxer!" was the first words Xena heard when she started coming to. What was Joxer doing here? What had happened? She had been riding and then . . . "Come on, Joxer, please wake up, honey," came another voice. It sounded like Joxer's mother, but Xena had left them all.

She opened her eyes to see Callisto and Saradora looking at her, their faces swimming with concern. "What's wrong with Joxer?" Xena said, but her voice sounded weird.

"He must have hit his head," Saradora said, glancing at Callisto.

"That's too bad but not that concerning," Xena said, trying her voice out. Did she have laryngitis? "How did I get back here?"

"Joxer, try to snap out of it. I don't like being this close to the Furies' village."

That was strange. Callisto had looked at her directly when she said Joxer . . . No! Not again! She took stock in her body, and sure enough it was male . . . again. She guessed it was Joxer this time. One of these days she was going to go visit the Fates and slap them silly for doing this to her. What was it now, five bodies she had been in, and Joxer made six? She certainly didn't want to admit to Callisto of all people that she once again didn't inhabit her body. Xena's pride still stung about her guilt getting her in Callisto's body in the first place. Now what had she done?

It wasn't guilt. The most obvious god of course was Ares, so he was the best bet. The best thing to do was to get away from Callisto and Saradora before they found out. Frankly, Xena was sick of playing nice today, and all she wanted to do was go kill something. But her own body or no, she wouldn't revert to the old Xena.

"Come on, let's help him up," Callisto said. "We can figure out what's wrong with him on the road. The mob is looking at me again, now that Xena's gone."

Xena was ready to get out of here, so she jumped to her feet and seemed to sail into the sky, hitting her head on an overhead branch that was . . . fifteen feet in the air? Now how? But she didn't get any more thoughts out, because she was unconscious again.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Xena woke up with a lot less pain in her head than should have been after being knocked unconscious. She decided to keep her eyes closed even as Callisto said, "Joxer," again and again. She needed to take stock in what had happened. She normally had better control of her body than that, yes even in other's bodies. Worse, she had somehow hit her head on a branch that was nowhere near her head. Xena could jump high, but not as high as that.

She went over it in her normal warrior mode: she had been lying down. She had been in Joxer's body. She had jumped up. That was it. Something was wrong here . . . Joxer's clumsiness couldn't have possibly drawn his body magnetically to a tree, no matter how clumsy the oaf was!

This had to be a part of the spell . . . though most spells were only one-sided not two. The gods had changed that rule before, though. Look at the insanity and the persecution from the Furies!

If Xena had just started talking a little faster, or if she had shown one sign of her Xenaness, she wouldn't have heard the next conversation, and Xena's life would have gone a lot smoother. Unfortunately, she overheard Saradora saying, "Could his father have put some kind of spell on him?"

"Ares isn't this subtle. Trust me, if he was going to put a spell on Joxer, he'd be here about . . . now? To mock us all. But . . . he's not."

Xena froze. Did she hear right? If Joxer had been saying these things, she would have dismissed it as just Joxer's delusions, but why would Callisto and Joxer's mother be so delusional. Callisto was a lot of things, but not delusional.

That meant . . . Ares was Joxer's father, and Saradora was Lockinus' mother as well as Joxer's. Xena tried to let it go at that, and would have. So what Joxer was Ares' son? She always wondered why he could survive when he put himself into so many dangerous situations. A bit of God blood could help him survive.

Just as Xena was about to let her companions know she wasn't exactly Joxer, Callisto said, "I wonder if it has something to do with the spell Paci put on him."

"What?" Saradora asked.

"Well, while you were . . . out of it, Joxer was a pacifist for a long time, pretending to be an idiot so no one would challenge him to battle."

Xena's heart jumped. _Pretending!_

"He was a pacifist?" Saradora asked, and Xena could hear the choked up voice. His mother had wanted him to be peaceful. That made sense with a father like Ares. Xena decided she'd do her own pretending. This conversation was getting interesting, which meant "Joxer" wouldn't wake up any time soon.

"He wanted to honor you so badly," Callisto said. "Unfortunately, it got to him. He did his best to help out by alerting Xena to problems. He first met her when he wanted her to know that I was pretending to be her and killing lots of people. Long story," she added. "He was pretty amazing," she said. "He pretended to want to be in my army. It was only later that I found out that he was taking stock in how many men I had, my position in the countryside, and what my plans were."

"That's my Joxer," Saradora said sounding proud.

"Well, to cut a long story short, it was inevitable that Joxer would come across a warlord attacking that he just couldn't tell Xena about, that he couldn't wait for her to take down. He had to attack, and that's what Ares expected. Paci's protection was over a village which meant when Joxer fought inside, he couldn't fight ever again without people dying around him."

Xena nodded internally. That explained everything. Her head spun, though. Usually, she had a pretty good handle on anything that happened. A dream passage that leads to looking in her own eyes, easy to deal with. Being in someone else's body to defeat someone who came back from the Underworld, fine. Love spells and Furies' insanity and days repeating, great! Having her arms chopped off and becoming a goddess, okay! But the fact that she had been completely wrong about Joxer . . . everything he said was true, and she had dismissed him. She had laughed at him. Suddenly she felt like a fool. This explained the bump to her head. Joxer had skills that Ares' blood gave him. After all, Hercules had super strength. Ares bloodline was way more powerful. Look at Evander, Ares' latest child. He could belch fireballs, fly, and levitate fully grown men. Who knew what Joxer could do?

And then it hit her . . . she had seen what Joxer could do. It was no strange man under that Lockinus' mask. It was Joxer! He had helped her against Apollo, and she had dismissed him again. Xena had lived with guilt for a very long time, so when it wrinkled in her mind again, she knew exactly what she had to do. She had to get Paci's spell off of Joxer.

The real question was why she wasn't dying. Xena had heard of Paci's spells. They were pretty serious. It was the reason she had given up on a village in her warlord days. Who wanted that kind of curse? Xena knew though. It was because of this recent curse (she was starting to despise the gods more than ever before, but at least they were helpful sometimes!). Her consciousness in Joxer's body was confused, so Paci's spell couldn't possibly get in the way of the body switching. But . . . if she returned to her body . . .

"I'm fine!" Xena said and jumped up, lighter this time. It was going to be a real trick understanding the limits and benefits of her body. It was going to come in handy for the next part of her plan.

"Joxer," Callisto said. "What was that?"

"Doesn't really matter . . ." Xena's senses were magnified now. She could hear Gabrielle coming. How far away? Only ten paces—no! New senses, Joxer could hear so well. Gabrielle was about half a mile away. And based on the conversation she was having with Joxer in Xena's body, they already knew the switch had happened. This was not good. She didn't need her identity shown too fast, because everyone would be trying to fix it. Knowing Callisto she'd have some kind of safeguard if this ever happened to her—she had been a part of one already, and since Callisto didn't know that Xena knew about the curse, she'd go lightning quick to fix this.

Callisto couldn't know, not yet. "Let's get out of here, Callisto, and, um, Mom," Xena said quickly and did something quite unorthodox. She knew Joxer had strength and speed, so she quickly picked the two women up at her side and started running as fast as Joxer could go . . . which was fast!

Xena was passed Athens before her speed started wearing off, and she tumbled into the dirt.


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter Twenty-Three

It was a strange event to have Callisto the former Warrior Queen chastising you, and Callisto hadn't let up. She was worse than Gabrielle in this respect. She must really care about Joxer, Xena thought as she sat on a mound of dirt and grass, one hand on her chin, as Callisto paced back and forth in front of her.

"Why would you do this? You wore yourself out. I thought you told me if you use your powers too much it could kill you. What exactly is your problem?!"

"I made a mistake?" Xena said.

"I'll say!"

"Now, Callisto, this isn't getting you anywhere," Saradora finally put in. Xena wondered what had taken so long. Maybe Saradora was about to say the same tirade, but Callisto beat her to it.

"Great!" Xena said and stood, trying to be gentle. She didn't need another over use of this body's power. "Thank-you, Mom. I need to go and . . . do something. You both need to get over to Athens and wait for me there."

"Why?" Callisto demanded.

"Just trust me," Xena as Joxer said, growing irritated. Callisto was not Gabrielle. For a second, she felt sorry for Joxer.

"Trust you?! After that display?"

"It won't happen again. I just need to go and have a few words with Ares."

"Have a few words? Since when do you talk like that?"

"Since today!" Xena said, finally snapping. "Do as I say or else."

Callisto laughed. "Stick to the fighting Joxer and not the threats. It's hard to worry about what you'll do. That goofy face really works for your act."

Xena suddenly missed her steely gaze. She would have cheerfully throttled Callisto to make her point, but it seemed that Callisto finally was "trusting" Joxer. Callisto didn't know what was up right now, but she had faith that Joxer knew what he was doing.

Callisto and the baffled Saradora walked off, heading down the path that led to Athens, already chatting about what Joxer had been up to during the years of her insanity, and finally Xena was alone. There was only one place she had to go now, and that was Ares' temple. He had to know more about this Paci curse than he had told Joxer, for example a cure.

First though she needed experience with Joxer's skills. She wouldn't go inside an enemy camp without full knowledge of her own abilities, and being in someone else's body was no different. So, for the next few hours Xena ran almost to exhaustion again to feel how far she could. She practically flew into the air with Joxer's jumps, and honed her hearing to know exactly how far away even a fly was buzzing. When she got hungry, she was in for a surprise. Joxer couldn't taste like anyone else. All his taste buds were out of whack. "No wonder he made us so sick!" she muttered as she tasted the apple she had grabbed from a tree.

Finally, it was time to go and visit Ares. Somehow she didn't look forward to it. She couldn't just go in there and demand a cure. Knowing him, he'd deny there was even one. And if he knew she was in Joxer's body, he'd have a laughing fit, at Xena's expense. The less he knew the better. She suddenly had a flash of a plan. It came from the memory of being in another's body, just like so long ago, when she had been in Callisto's body . . . when Ares had been mortal.

She rested enough and then ran to the nearest Ares temple and stomped in yelling, "Ares! Ares!"

He appeared, languishing on a throne covered in skulls. He was in a snazzy and shiny pair of gold pajamas. "Right when I start falling asleep . . ."

"Um, Ares, I have never seen you in . . . pajamas." Xena was flabbergasted and a bit horrified.

"Sure, you have, Joxer," Ares said with a sigh. "I'm your father. I don't need to wear the whole black number all the time. It's for mortals that I usually appear fully dressed."

"Like with Xena," Xena said.

"Well, her I usually try to appear in a cape for. What are you doing here? Coming back to me?"

Xena tried not to groan. It seemed that Ares was the same with Joxer as he was with her. When she got this spell off Joxer, she and Joxer needed to sit down and have a long talk, comparing how many times Ares hopefully asked if they were coming back to him. "No, Father," Xena said.

Ares suddenly jumped and then gave a hearty grin. "Well, it's about time! I thought you swore you'd never call me father again."

Great, Xena already messed it up. She had to stop dismissing Joxer! He seemed as out of joint with his father as Hercules did most of the time. "This is a special situation, Father. Your sword is at stake."

Ares jumped again, but this time he fell off his throne. "What?"

"Well, you remember when Sisyphus stole it, and you became mortal and looked quite the fool, right?"

Ares groaned. "Don't remind me. I still have nightmares of Xena being in Callisto's body and me being, ugh, mortal next to it. It might not have been so bad if I had Xena's real body next to me," he mused further.

"Shut up, Ares!" Xena snapped but recovered. "Well, it seems that Hera has decided to finally pay you back for my trying to kill her." This was hard, as Xena didn't know the whole story. What if Ares hadn't had anything to do with it?

"She found out it was me behind everything?!"

Of course he had something to do with it! Xena groaned inwardly. He always did. "More than that, she found out about the hind's blood, the deal with Dahak. You are so doomed."

"Doomed? How?"

"She plans to take your sword. As you know, though, first she has to find it. I was thinking of putting it somewhere hidden where even Hera wouldn't find it."

"Like where?"

"I'll tell you later," Xena as Joxer said. "Come on. We may have had our problems, but I know you make the best God of War. Let me help out."

"Does this mean you'll be my warrior again?"

"Don't push it," Xena ordered. Ares cocked his head.

"I don't know why, Joxer, but something is different about you. You seem so . . . well, forceful. It's about time you sounded more like me than your misbegotten mother."

Xena gritted her teeth but couldn't help it. Suddenly she had good cause to use what she always wondered about. Could she put the pinch on a god?

Within seconds that question was answered, as she had Ares at her side with the pinch full on.

"How . . . how did you learn to use the pinch?" he demanded, spluttering like crazy. The pinch sure wouldn't kill him, but it was nice to see him gasping for air.

"Um, Xena taught me!" Xena quickly took off the pinch, cursing herself for letting her temper win. This might ruin everything. Luckily, Ares was too busy trying to figure out how to put a card with Joxer having Xena's pinch in his deck.

"Joxer Warrior Prince! I like that," Ares said proudly.

"Just tell me where the sword is, quickly," Xena said. "Hera is looking for it, and she probably knows you hid it in Hestia's temple."

"What? I didn't tell anyone that, not even you. How'd you figure that out?"

Xena mentally rolled her eyes. Of course he did. He hid everything there. The opposite of war, the place of peace was a real draw to him. He thought it was the last place they'd look. And so it was the first place Xena would look. But knowing Ares he had quite the number of protection curses around it. "What about the curses? How do I get past them?"

"I'll go with you," Ares said and Xena felt the normal moving spell and opened her mind to it. It was a little known trick that the gods could only move someone when they had complete cooperation. In a second, they were in Hestia's temple. White was everywhere, hanging from the ceilings and pushing up from the floor. It almost looked like a giant cloud.

Ares passed his hand over a certain patch, and a special ring was revealed. "Nope, not that one. Wrong place. That's the one ring to rule them all and all that."

He opened up quite a few more nooks and crannies, until finally he found where he had hid his sword. "Here!" he said. "Joxer, I'm counting on you."

Xena grabbed it quickly and focused her will. Ares had taught her quite a few times (in disguise of course) how to manipulate a god's power. He had wanted to use her against all the others.

And she searched . . . where was the answer to Joxer's curse? What loophole could be found? Was there any way of fighting it?


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter Twenty-Four

Ares was understandably confused, as Joxer (Xena inside) hadn't ran off and did what he said he would which was to hide the sword. Xena would have smirked if she had seen him, standing there looking flummoxed and wondering what exactly his son was doing. Xena guessed that meant that Ares hadn't given Joxer the same lessons he had given her.

This was tricky work, like walking a spider web. And she had to traverse it quickly, because she had only a limited time with the sword. It was one of the tricks that all god items had on them. If one didn't use it within minutes of getting their mortal hands on them, the items would cease to work. Joxer was extra mortal, so she probably had more time, but who knew how long that would last.

So, through curses she traveled, through the many years that the gods messed with mortals, because that was also the great thing about the God of War's sword. He had a tune in to all curses; it was a war thing. She could see Narcissus becoming obsessed with himself. She saw when Pandora opened the box. She saw many things, and she was suddenly very glad that she had been the one to do this and not someone as pure as Gabrielle or somebody else. It was a lot of pain the gods had under their collective belts. Finally, she stepped on Paci's curse.

In this huge spider web, his curse shined out as more complicated and more intricate. It surrounded millions of people . . . and it was impossible to defeat. No! Ares must have had a loophole. He never would have put something in motion without having a way out!

Xena put everything she had into finding it. There had to be a way. What would Gabrielle do? She asked herself. It was a common question she asked whenever her own judgment failed. Gabrielle . . . would look at the heart of the matter. It wasn't a battle Xena was fighting here. It was a matter of feelings, emotions.

When she shut off her warrior spirit, suddenly the spider web became clear. So, Paci used emotions as part of his curse. Yes, Xena could shut it down!

But there was a catch. Much like the transportation spell Ares had used to get her here, the mortal's will could get in the way. Xena couldn't bypass that. Ares probably could have, as he used the inherent war in every mortal. He could have easily shut off this spell if Joxer would have given him something back.

Xena, however, couldn't. She only could only work with two mortals' wills: her own and Gabrielle's, because they both loved Joxer so much, their will wouldn't get in the way of helping him. So she mentally reached in and made a twist.

And all Tartarus broke loose—at least in this mental plain. Paci's curse wasn't going to go down without a fight. Suddenly, she felt as if she had been transported to a large plain with no sky and no horizon, just a brown flat ground that went on and on.

She was back in her body, so this was just her mental projection, not a real place in time. Paci the god of pacification was standing about a hundred feet away. He didn't look as Xena thought he ought. She had fought quite the number of monsters recently, and Paci shouldn't have looked like one, but he did.

A humongous mound of red flesh was rounded on to the ground, with the feet of a roach propelling him towards Xena as soon as he saw her. His face was placed on the living wall of flesh like a portrait. He ran into Xena and made her fall flat.

"Okay, I'll give that one to you, roachy," she muttered. "Just getting my bearings."

He slammed into her again, and she felt the feet running over her body, as Paci tried to trample her. She guessed he wasn't such a pacifist in the mental world.

Then it hit her—this was the mental world. And she was fighting as if she was in the physical. Here, the stronger mind won. And she had been in a similar situation in that dreamscape passage of Morpheus'. "Alright, Paci, you think you can beat me because us warriors only use brawn, well I have many skills."

Xena didn't focus on his trajectory or where his force would land. She stopped trying to use her sword and chakram and instead used her imagination. She wasn't alone in fighting Paci. There were a hundred Xenas here!

The battlefield suddenly got a bit crowded, as multiple Xenas started attacking the giant roach form of Paci. Then he copied her. A hundred roaches appeared and started doing battle with the Xenas.

"Give it up, Warrior Princess!" one spoke. "A pacifist does nothing physical ever, so his mind is free to imagine whatever he wants. You may rule the battlefield, but in the mental realm you are mine to toy with. Whatever battle you thought you'd wage here, you're wrong! Get out of my curse, and leave my powers alone."

"But Paci we were just getting to know each other!" Xena said and forgot the hundred Xenas. It was time to put Paci in his place. She imagined a huge box encasing the one who had been addressing her. Slam! A stone box appeared around Paci. He struggled and broke the walls down, so she put another stone box around and another, and another, until the whole plain was one big giant box, with Xena at the bottom.

Suddenly all the roaches disappeared, and Xena was back in Ares' temple, like no time had passed—it probably hadn't. But now Xena and Gabrielle were immune . . . it was the rest of the world that Joxer would have to be careful about.

"Joxer!" Ares yelped. "What the Tartarus is going on? Get out of here already!"

"You know, Ares, I was just teasing. Here's your sword." Xena tossed it to him and started running. "No god wants your sword."

She left Ares with a gaping mouth and laughed as she headed towards the temple of Janus in Rome. Thanks to Joxer's speed, she made it there quickly. Outside the temple there was a garden of duality. If one picked the twin fruit there and ran to the one switched bodies with, and each one took a bite at the same time, their bodies would revert to their proper places.

Xena ran again, imagining the look on Joxer's face when he could tell them anything. She had so many questions, and she knew Gabrielle would have more, way more—she'd fill a whole _scroll_ with her interview with Joxer. Then something hit Xena as she ran to the place where she could meet up with Joxer and Gabrielle. Joxer, for whatever reason, had never been straight up with her and Gabrielle.

Maybe it was time to have a little bit of fun with Joxer before letting him know what she had done. First things first, she needed her darned body back! Having all these skills was great and all, but she still felt hindered by not being in her own body with its highly honed senses.

Just like Joxer probably had on many occasions, she stood on the road and waited for Gabrielle and Joxer to see her as they appeared over the curve in the hill. "There you are!" Gabrielle said. "Please tell me it's you, Xena. Joxer has been doing the most ungodly expressions on your features!"

"It's alright, Gabrielle. I just had to make a small stop. Ever since Callisto stole my body, I tried to figure out what I could do without getting the help from a god like Hades. I figured out that if I borrowed some of the twin fruit from Janus' garden in Rome, then there would be no problems."

"Really?" Joxer as Xena queried. Maybe it was because he was in her body, but she could easily tell he was concerned. "How'd you get there so fast?"

"Took a boat, borrowed a horse. Why?"

Joxer as Xena just shrugged quickly and said, "No reason. Well, I'll be glad to be myself again. Because I'm Joxer the Mighty, master of the body switch—,"

"Shut up," Xena as Joxer said quickly. She didn't know that her own body could annoy her this much. "Let's take a bite at the same time."

Joxer locked gazes with her. "You, um, didn't see anything weird . . ."

"Joxer, please, I miss my body as well. Let's just eat these fruits."

Satisfied, Joxer took the fruit and both took a bite. A huge flash of golden light hit, and Xena was now looking at Joxer in his right body not her own. "Oh it's good to be me again!" Joxer said, giving Xena a goofy grin. "Not that I didn't enjoy being shapely for a change."

Xena gave him a grin of her own. She suddenly remembered all the times Joxer out and out played with her. He didn't have to be so dumb, so ridiculous. It was her turn. Now, what could she do that would play with Joxer the most?


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty-Five

Joxer was thrilled with the recent developments. The possibilities of just plain _bad_ that could have gone wrong with Xena being in his body had ended. She hadn't found out anything. The question of how . . . didn't really matter. He had been lucky; Xena had been lucky. Now life could go back to normal.

Still . . . a question remained in his brain. Where were Callisto and his mother? Had Xena been so determined to get out of his body that she had just ran away from them and headed towards Rome? Joxer decided that had to be it. Still . . . he felt uncomfortable, as if he had put his hat on backwards. Something wasn't right . . .

"Soooo, Joxer," Xena began as they walked together, both of them back in their old bodies again.

"Yeah, Xena? Want to try body switching again so you can learn all my skills?"

"No," Xena said. She didn't roll her eyes. She didn't even snap at him. Something was wrong . . . "I was just thinking about Lockinus. Maybe I didn't give him a fair shake, you know?"

Joxer's heart leaped. "You sure were hard on him," he said carefully. This was too early to get his hopes up, but it sounded like she was willing to fight alongside him. That would be great!

"Well, maybe I'd like to give him another shot. Besides, I'm worried about some recent mutterings about a new Dahak cult, and I'd like his opinion. I wonder where I could find him."

"Dahak?" Joxer asked.

"No, Joxer, Lockinus."

"I meant . . . never mind." He didn't like the sound of that. Hope had given him nightmares ever since she started looking like Gabrielle and had tried to feed him to his half-brother, the Destroyer. He thought that Dahak had been defeated. "Well, I bet I could find Lockinus, and you could tell him everything." Joxer was about run off. This was what he was waiting for, a chance to use all his skills, to finally fight right at Xena's side, to be her back up instead of a hindrance.

"Now wait a minute, Joxer. I don't know why you think you could find him better than Gabrielle," Xena said quickly.

"What?" Joxer said, stopping. "I can find him! Gabby don't know nothing about tracking him."

Xena turned her eagle blue eyes at him, making Joxer feel like a mouse. "And you do? Now how could that be?"

Joxer started stuttering over his words. "I m-mean, I am the best tracker in the world."

"I taught Gabrielle to track."

"Can I put a word in here?" Gabrielle asked.

"No," Xena said. "Joxer thinks he can find Lockinus, and I say he can't at all, ever. Gabrielle, I want you to find Lockinus. You know what to look for . . ."

"I _really_ would like to go find him," Joxer said. "Give Gabrielle a break."

"I'm fine, Joxer," Gabrielle said, shaking her head at Xena. "I'll ask around. I'm sure someone can sell me a tracking item in the nearby town. You sure you don't want to do the tracking, Xena?"

"I'm positive. I think Joxer and I will just hang out here, do some hunting, make a fire. Go on, Gabrielle. If all else fails, go to one of Hermes' temples. I'm sure he could help."

Joxer desperately wanted to say that Hermes wouldn't be able to track Lockinus, nor would any magical item the shops sold. He was immune to those kind of things. But then again how would _Joxer_ know? Maybe he should try one more time. "I'm telling you, I am better than Gabrielle."

"Not at talking," Xena glared, and Joxer finally shut up. She wouldn't find Lockinus, but maybe sometime tonight or tomorrow, Joxer could sneak away and return as Lockinus. This secret identity was getting on his nerves.

Gabrielle left and Xena gestured Joxer to follow her into the brush which skirted the road. Overhead, trees swayed in the breeze, and Joxer knew Xena would find something for dinner. "You know, Joxer, hunting isn't just about shooting. It's about tracking . . . seeing the defenses of your prey and capturing them off-guard."

Joxer was more nervous than he had ever been around Xena. For some reason, she had hidden meaning to every word she spoke, and he couldn't figure out what she meant. "Hunting is boring!" he announced. "Maybe I'll just go and start the fire."

"Oh, no you don't," Xena said. "I'm trying to teach you how to be a better warrior, Joxer. For four years now, you've done just good enough to prevent dying . . . how have you done that? How are you still alive?"

"Luck!" Joxer yelped desperately. This conversation wasn't at all comfortable. It was throwing him off-guard, just like Xena had said about the hunting thing.

"Good luck . . ." Xena murmured. "Well, it's time for you to learn how to fight."

Oh, no it wasn't! Joxer had worried about this for years. That's why he always acted like he was the best. It stopped anyone from trying to take him under their wings and teach him to be a warrior. He could fake it in a battle, but he didn't know how long he could keep his strength a secret when someone like Xena wanted to draw out all his potential. "I don't need to learn to fight," he said.

"Are you really that delusional?" Xena said. "When I first met you, you almost got killed by Callisto. You ran in to save Gabrielle and me only to be shot by an arrow. After that, you almost died by Theodorus capturing you. You have been in deadly situations and have always survived, but you can't possibly think it's because of your skills. You aren't that delusional."

"Yes, I am!" Joxer said quickly. Then he realized what he had said. "I m-mean to s-say, I have many skills, like you."

"Do you? Do you really?"

Was that a serious question? Oh Gods, was she serious?! "There's a deer!" he said desperately, as he had heard one when he entered the forest. Xena shrugged and threw her chakram felling the deer.

"Okay, so you have many skills."

"I don't!" Joxer said. "I really don't!"

"So, you admit this to me. So you'll have to learn how to be a warrior."

Joxer felt like the deer. "I . . ."

"Well, it'll have to wait. It's dinner time," Xena scolded and went to get the deer, leaving Joxer shaking. What was going on here? She wanted to train him, but she then acted like _he_ was the one that had brought it up in the first place. She was blessedly silent over dinner as the fire leaped up in front of them.

"Joxer!" Xena said abruptly, starling Joxer so he spilled his plate into the fire.

"Yes?" he said meekly.

"I always have trained with my pinch for a very long time. Did you know that?"

Good, a safe discussion. "I figured you did."

"Well, did you know I have at least ten different kinds of pinches? Ones that last seconds, ones that last days, and more."

"Okay," Joxer responded, wondering why she was telling him this. It was sure fascinating—he had always wondered why some people had twenty seconds and others had more—but why bring this up? To him of all people? Gabrielle was way more interested in this subject.

"Well, I had a new one I was working on. It's called the Truth Pinch. It can extract truth. It cuts off the flow of logic to the brain, causing the person who speaks to only utter truth."

"Hey, that would be useful!" Joxer said.

"Well, I'm still working a few kinks out. Sometimes, the person who gets that pinch on them will blabber about every secret they have and not the specific question I'm asking. See my problem?"

"Yes, yes, yes, that would be a problem." Joxer suddenly imagined himself under that pinch. That would _not_ be good.

"I'm thinking of testing it out on Lockinus," she said casually. Joxer, who had recovered his food from the fire, spit it back in.

"What?! Why would you?"

"To make sure he's telling the truth. You know what a liar his father, Ares, is."

"He never lied! A god need never lie."

"No, but Lockinus is half-mortal. A mortal lies all the time, right, Joxer?" she said.

"I guess . . . I-I just don't think Lockinus would lie. There's no reason to show that you have made a mistake with the poor guy by testing out truth pinches on him."

Xena smirked and looked away. Was she trying not to laugh? Then he was sure he had been seeing things as she turned back, stonier than ever. "Well, when Gabrielle gets back, she'll most likely have succeeded and I'll see what I feel like. I might just rip his mask off right away."

Joxer felt like fainting. There was no way he'd let Lockinus anywhere near Xena!

"Then again, I just want some help against Dahak. Maybe I should be nicer."

"I think that'd be a good idea, Xena," Joxer said. "Promise me, you won't rip his mask off?"

"Why would I?" she asked innocently. "I was just making conversation, Joxer. I wouldn't want to force Lockinus to show his identity. What do you think of me?"

Joxer tried to smile, but he was soaked through. This was ridiculous. A few rounds with Hope, he only had nightmares. Face to face with the Destroyer, he only checked to see if he could see any family resemblance, but a small conversation with Xena and he was ready to run off as fast as he could and never return.

He heard Gabrielle coming and jumped up to greet her when she arrived. Maybe _now_ he could go and get Lockinus. "Sorry, Xena," Gabrielle announced and sat down, "but it seems Lockinus is immune to tracking items, and Hermes told me to go fly a kite, and if I saw Lockinus to tell him he still wanted his shoes back."

Joxer hid a smirk. Fat chance. They fit him perfectly. "Well, it looks like it's up to me," Joxer said and gallantly stood up. "I'll find him."

"Nah," Xena said. "I'll find him instead. It's been a while since I had a good hunt."

Joxer gulped, and stood there shaking, wondering what he should do. Common sense said that he shouldn't get his mask on anywhere near Xena, but . . . if Dahak was back, he couldn't allow what happened last time to happen again. What if Gabrielle was targeted again? This time he could fight. No matter how much Xena scared him right now.

"So, am I coming with you?" he asked carefully, hoping she'd say no.

"Of course not, Joxer," Xena said. "I'm trying to find Lockinus. You can't be anywhere near him," and she mounted Argo and charged off, leaving Joxer very confused. What did she mean by that? It was great she was finally letting him go, but her last words were a mystery. She couldn't possibly know how true her words were, right? Of course not! Joxer decided. She'd be dead.

"What's going on with Xena?" Gabrielle asked, confused. "She's acting strange."

"She's always strange! I think I just learned to never ask Xena any questions."

"Finally! You've learned a great lesson, Joxer. Is that deer up for grabs?" she added, pointing to the spit over the fire that still held the cooked remains.

"Take it. Aren't you going after Xena?" he asked.

"Uh, no, she has that look in her eyes. She's on a mission. She'll let me know when this whole thing is over."

Joxer nodded. "Well, I, on the other hand, don't like it one bit. I am a warrior, Gabrielle, and I will follow Xena. Have a nice meal."

"Thanks, Joxer . . . oh, and um, be careful. Xena seems . . . I don't know, weird about you. You might not want to catch up with her."

Joxer nodded. He wasn't going to catch up with her . . . Unfortunately, Lockinus was, and frankly Joxer didn't think he'd get much better of a reception.


	26. Chapter 26

Chapter Twenty-Six

Joxer donned his Lockinus outfit, complete with mask, and headed towards where Xena was looking for him. It wasn't hard to find her. She had made an easy trail. With trepidation, he ran to catch up with Xena, still on Argo. He really hoped she was just kidding about ripping his mask off . . . and that truth pinch.

At least now he was Lockinus pretending that he wasn't Joxer and not Joxer pretending that he wasn't Lockinus. As Lockinus, he could defend himself against Xena . . . or really run if she headed towards him with a certain gleam in her eyes. As Joxer, he might be safer, though . . . as Xena didn't care about his secrets.

Running alongside Argo, he caught Xena's eye and nodded. "I heard you were looking for me," he said.

Xena yelled, "Whoa, Argo!" and skidded to a stop. Leaping off Argo, she seemed to ignore Lockinus while she led Argo to a stream and started cooling her down. "Alright, girl, go and eat."

"Um, Xena?" Lockinus said.

"Yes?"

"You were, um, looking for me?" He tried to sound confident, but Xena was sure messing him up. He had no idea on what to expect from her.

"Yes, I was. How'd you know?"

"I mean . . . Gabrielle was asking a lot of questions. Hermes told me."

"Really? And what favor did you have to promise him to get that information? Hermes may be the messenger of the gods, but he certainly doesn't work for free."

"He likes me," Joxer said, starting to grow irritated. His lies weren't fast enough. Why did Xena care how he found out? She never cared when Hercules showed up out of the blue and said he had heard she had been looking for him, no matter how impossible it was.

"He _likes_ you?" Xena said, staring at him. "Well, that's something I would expect to hear from Joxer, not a masked son of Ares."

This was heading down dangerous roads. "Well, that is to say, he doesn't _like_ me. He is terrified of me. I did have a job as a god assassin, you know."

"No, I do not know. I know nothing about you." For the first time today, Xena seemed a bit sad.

"It's a long story. And you have Dahak to worry about. Can we talk about my history later?" Or never, Joxer thought. It wouldn't be good to have Xena connect too many dots, especially now that she knew Saradora was Joxer's mother.

"Well, now how did you know about Dahak?" Xena asked with a smirk. "I told only Joxer and Gabrielle, and Gabrielle knew enough to keep it quiet."

Joxer swore inside his head. Why and how was he giving so much away? He thought he was better at this. "I know everything!" Joxer said desperately.

"You know what," Xena said with a tight look at him. "You sounded like someone when you said that. Something about the accent . . . you're someone I know . . ."

"No, I'm not!" Joxer said desperately.

"You're not?" Xena said, starting to circle him. "I met you when I fought Apollo. How can you say I don't know you?"

"Um . . . I meant that I'm not someone you know, know, like a best friend or companion."

"Oh, I see."

"Dahak," Joxer reminded, before he ran as fast as he could away from the predator Xena.

"I am not sure I trust you, Lockinus. For all I know, you're Ares himself under that mask."

"I'm not!"

Proving his point, Ares appeared. Joxer for the first time ever was happy for his interruption. "Ah, Lockinus," he said with a glare like an eagle. _Now_ what was his problem? He glanced towards Xena. "Sorry, not here for you this time, babe."

"Ares, if you don't mind, Lockinus and I were having a conversation," Xena said. "Anything you want to say will have to wait."

"Uh, no it won't. Besides, I do have a few questions for you as well! Like why in all of Zeus' holy creations would you teach Joxer the pinch?"

Joxer raised his eyebrows. Had his father gone out of his mind? He didn't know the pinch! How could he? "Ares, go away," Lockinus said.

"No! I hid my sword again! You'll never find it. What a stupid joke!" he yelled at Joxer. Ares was so miffed, he wasn't paying attention to the fact that he was talking to Lockinus as if he were Joxer . . . but that was impossible. Justice's spell had worked even with hints. Ares' tongue should have been beating the stuffing out of him by now.

And what joke? Sword?

"I wouldn't know where your sword is in the first place, Ares," Lockinus said quickly, dismissing the questions. This was probably one of Ares' tricks. "You never told me. Remember? You said that you didn't want me stealing it."

"Oh for the love of me, Joxer! You were just in Hestia's temple after warning me about the gods. It was a bad joke, and then you didn't even gloat like I told you to do when some idiot falls for your joke."

Lockinus froze. Had his father just said . . . then he thawed again as a wave of impossible warmth rushed him. He had said Joxer . . . Xena still stood there, looking extremely annoyed. But she wasn't dead! And that joke . . . the body switch . . . Xena _had_ seen things she shouldn't!

Had it somehow made her immune . . .? It didn't matter. Xena knew! She knew who he was. And this whole thing . . . "Oh, Xena, how could you?!" he demanded, ripping his mask off.

"How could you?" she retorted. "You didn't have to be such an idiot, did you?"

"Wait a minute!" Ares yelled, looking back and forth between the two of them. "How is Paci's spell not working?"

"Your sword is powerful, Ares, as you well know," Xena said.

"You! You didn't teach Joxer the pinch, it was you all along, and you used my sword to take Paci's spell off!"

"Completely?" Joxer said with a grin at Xena. He was totally in love with Xena at this point!

"Not completely," Xena said. "Sorry, Joxer . . . just me and Gabrielle. The rest of the world is on their own."

Joxer judged the matter. He'd take it! "So, Gabrielle knows?"

"Not yet. I guess you'll have to figure out how to tell her."

"Oh, this is sickening!" Ares moaned when Joxer hugged Xena, who hugged him right back. "I can't believe this. You can't be this happy! I was a victim in all this . . . wait, you were in Joxer's body? Now _that_ is hilarious!"

"Go away, Ares. Unless you want Joxer to give me a complete rundown on his abilities by kicking your sorry butt around?" Xena said. Ares just shrugged.

"I'll go. I just need the time to figure out all the ways I'm going to mock you for this. I'll see you later." And then he disappeared into a shower of silver sparks.

"I hate that he finds this so funny," Xena muttered.

Joxer shook his head. "He's nothing. This is amazing! Do you know how long I hated keeping a secret from you? That your death weighed on my shoulders? It's all gone."

Xena gave him a gentle smile. "I'm sorry I dismissed you so many times, Joxer. I should have read between the lines better."

"I'm glad you didn't," Joxer said honestly. "All those times. When Callisto's goons shot me with an arrow? I could have leveled the place . . . and I didn't. Gabrielle almost died . . . I was useless. Then that time with Meg and Diana . . . Because I was pretending so hard to be an idiot, I ran in at the wrong time and ruined your plan. And with Bacchus, I could have done so much more than play the lyre . . ."

"Joxer . . ."

"And then with Hope? Gabrielle could have died . . . for real, I mean."

"Joxer, stop. Everyone has their own regrets to fight. I know you have yours. But everything has worked out. I handled it."

"And better than I could have, I know that! I just wished I had helped more."

"You always helped, Joxer. You've been there for Gabrielle and for me. You are a true friend. Nothing could stop that, even if you could have made the battle a little easier for me. All we needed—all Gabrielle and I ever needed—was a friend who stood by us, and _that_ you did in spades."

Both shared a smile. "So . . ."

"So?" Xena asked.

"Now what?"

"Well, I wasn't lying about Dahak. There are murmurings, and I'd like Gabrielle away from it this time, so why don't you, as Lockinus, and I continue on to a small town about a day's ride and run away from here and we'll learn more. But we will walk, Joxer, do you know why?"

"Why?"

"Two reasons. One, I want to give you a rest. I personally know your limits now. And two I want to know your history. Why does Ares want you as his warrior? Why would he keep his sword in a secret place that you didn't know about? How were you an assassin of gods? I wasn't lying when I said I know nothing. Give me your history, Joxer, if I am a friend."

"Alright, but the only way I know to tell a story is to start at the beginning . . . when I was born."


	27. Chapter 27

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Joxer's Story

The first sign that something was abnormal in Joxer's life was when he had turned eleven along with his two older brothers, Jett and Jace. Up to this point, they had existed with a happy life. Then Ares appeared. An oracle had told him that one was destined to be Destroyer of Gods. Of course, she hadn't come out and _said_ that. All Oracles are mysterious, which is a nice way of saying they are confusing as Tartarus.

This particular Oracle's words were, "the son of war will be a part of the war that issues forth a new beginning where the gods do die."

Clear and concise . . . not! So, Ares took that as the fact that his son would kill the gods. Singular minded, that's Ares. This was what was in his mind when he visited his Ex Saradora. She had been his normal fling. Ares had a _charming_ habit of visiting the wives of his soldiers while they were away at battle, and Joxer's adopted father was a warlord. So to repay his service, Ares had an affair with his wife, and Joxer's mom was a warlord's wife, so she wasn't exactly unaccommodating.

So, it was a dark and stormy night when Ares came to claim the son who would be destroyer of gods. The lightning slashed across the sky as Ares stood framed in the doorway. Joxer's adopted father was once again off trying to make a name for himself. Word was that there was a new warlord named Xena who was already making a huge name for herself, and she was only eighteen. Joxer's adopted father was already thirty, and no one had heard of him.

Earlier that day, the sun had shined liked an old lamp, high in the sky and allowing the dirt underneath to be baked like a loaf. Joxer stood on the outskirts of a small field. The young boys of the village always gathered here to play ball. Being eleven was a great age. Old enough to be allowed out of their mothers' sights but young enough not to go off and train for war.

The three brothers were known around town as troublemakers. Jett was always sneaking up on people, trying to show off how good he was at it. Jace stole pies from windows, and Joxer? Joxer tripped an awful lot. His body just couldn't catch up with his mind. Gangly arms, too long of legs, and a torso that had stopped growing at age six while the rest grew. Jett and Jace were the same but had learned a lot faster how to work with their bodies.

"Alright," Jett said with his scratchy voice. A cold had taken hold when he was a baby, so he always spoke in a gravelly voice. "Which side do you want to mess with?"

One of the triplet's favorite pastimes was to torment the other boys of the village. On this day, they had decided to change their tactics and make peace—just to have the pleasure of betraying their newfound friends. And despite the trouble the trio caused, they were likeable. Everyone wanted to be their friend. A fact that had Joxer quite puzzled. Maybe it had something to do with their warlord father who was never around (Joxer's mom had never let them in on the fact that it was really Ares that had spawned them). A warlord father who wandered around sounded a lot cooler than the actual fact of having one. While the rest of the boys had _boring_ shepherds and bakers for fathers, at least they had real fathers, ones that were there for them and answered their questions about life.

"I would say . . . the Hydras," Jace responded. "They always seem so cocky."

"We could just play," Joxer noted.

Jace and Jett shared a look and then busted into laughter. "Joxer, you're such an idiot," Jett said and affectionately pulled him into a headlock.

"Why can't we just play?" Joxer asked. Maybe he was whining a bit, but he wanted to be included so badly. So far he hadn't fit in for anything, and any friendships were ruined by the terrors that were his brothers.

"Joxer, there are two kinds of people in the world: winners and losers. We have to choose a side, and I choose winners. To play a stupid childish game that any boy could play, might as well pave our lives to follow the rest of the men in this village." Jett's eyes gleamed. "I want to be more."

Joxer sighed and gave up.

The trio entered the field, causing all the boys to stop and stare. The fact that the triplets would deign to come play ball with them had everyone shocked . . . and a bit horrified. "Uh, hi?" one of the older boys said.

"Hi, Cadmus," Jett said. "We, um, wanted to play." He looked so unsure of himself and knocked his toe against the dirt—all an act.

"That's great!" The rest of the boys were equally enthused. They knew how good of players Jett and Jace were . . . and the boys just hoped it'd rub off on Joxer as well. "Now we can have a real game."

So, the game started up, and Joxer fell. But Jace and Jett were in their elements. Jace moved like a dancer, and Jett, placed on the opposite team, like an assassin. The game became real, which thrilled the sports heart of every boy there, until Jace scored a point for the opposite team.

"What are you doing, Jace?" Cadmus demanded.

"I'm Jett, you idiot!" Jace said with a gravelly voice. Cadmus took a step back.

"Oh! Sorry!"

Then Jett scored a point for his team.

"Jace!" Cadmus moaned.

"I am Jett, you idiot!" Jett crowed. The two of them had them so confused that the game quickly degenerated into a guessing game of "which triplet is on my team?" And Joxer? As usual, he was forgotten. The best he got was people avoiding his feet. Slowly but surely he grew irritated. His brothers were ignoring him. The teams were ignoring him. No one had a problem realizing which triplet _he_ was.

Suddenly, he got a wicked idea. He had been placed on Cadmus' team. The one that his brothers wanted to lose this time. Maybe he could win . . . the Hydras would win, and he'd beat his brothers.

He just had to stay upright long enough.

Thanks to the lack of respect anyone gave Joxer, he managed to get right between his brothers who were still switching roles like Zeus changed forms. Jett was going for another score, and Joxer jumped at the ball like it was an animal and completely forgot what he was doing. All that mattered was that he scored. So, he ran, blind to the other side of the field, knocking people out of the way and scoring for the Hydras! He had done it! He turned around, a smirk on his face to see devastation. Every boy except Jace and Jett was on the ground.

They were all unconscious.

"What in the world? Did a god attack or something?"

"That was no god, Joxer," Jace said with his mouth hanging open. "That was you. You just barreled through everyone. I don't think you didn't hit even one of them. You were so intent on getting the ball, you sent everyone else flying. Look! Cadmus is in a tree!"

It was at that point that Jett lost it. He let out a series of laughs and fell to the ground holding his belly. "Well," he gasped. "We wanted to mess with them. This is . . . the best!"

Jace, too, joined him in the laughter. "Joxer, you are like a clumsy and stupid tornado!"

Joxer gritted his teeth. He hadn't meant for this to happen. How in the world could he have done that? The sky started growing dark. "Come on, Destroyer," Jett joked. "Let's get inside. I can't wait to tell Mom how much you hurt the other boys and they didn't even steal your toys!"

By the time they got home, it was pouring. And they never got the chance to tell Saradora about what happened, because Ares appeared as soon as they entered the door.


	28. Chapter 28

Ares had trouble figuring out which boy was his prophesied destroyer, so he took all of them to Olympus. He left Saradora alone. Though she protested, she was no match for the God of War, and Joxer's role began. Of course, Ares wasn't so sure that Joxer would be the one who would make that sketchy prophecy come true, so he more doted on Jett . . . Sure, Jett was fast, strong, and almost a psychopath. Ares loved him!

"That's my boy!" Ares appeared in front of Joxer, who was desperately trying to swing his sword so it _wouldn't_ cut his eye out.

"Gee, thanks, Dad!" Joxer said proudly.

"Not you, idiot!" Ares groaned. "Jett! He just stole some horses!"

"Were they ponies?" Joxer asked hopefully.

"Not quite! Steeds meant for gods, that's what," and he disappeared. Joxer promptly threw his sword through the wall.

A few days later, Ares appeared in front of Joxer who was training with Proteus, hoping Proteus could teach him face changing.

"Jett just torched a village!" Ares crowed. "Now that is a true god's son." He peered at the ugly form of Proteus. "A perfect playmate for you, Joxer. Both of you are freaks."

Then he disappeared. "Gee, you must get that a lot," Proteus said to Joxer.

"Me?!" Joxer demanded, a bit offended. "You're the one who looks like a giant fish!"

"At least I can change my shape," Proteus spit out.

"Yeah, sure, that helps against all the boys calling you names. Even though you are an adult, they act as if you were just a little boy to be laughed at!" Joxer retorted.

"Maybe the _real_ little boy here should show his elder some manners," Proteus demanded.

A little voice inside Joxer told him to shut up, that this was a god he was mouthing off to, but all the rage since getting here had been building up. It had been a year solid of Ares appearing in front of him, giving no real guidance or training, pointing out how much better his brothers were at everything and just being a real Grade A jerk. Joxer just couldn't take it anymore.

Something as hot as a volcano's heart boiled inside Joxer's soul. He was sick of being second . . . third—okay, let's face it, the worst. He couldn't even walk across the room without tripping. He was a clumsy oaf! And as he stood there, the ugliest god on Olympus, even worse than Hephaestus, jeered and mocked him. Hey, when Proteus was a boy, even Hercules, the misbegotten son of Zeus, had tormented him. Proteus was the lowest of the low, _not_ Joxer.

"Little fish," Joxer said, not recognizing his own voice. It had suddenly changed. "I will be the Destroyer of Gods, so mind your manners!"

Proteus laughed . . . and started changing.

Oops.

Slowly but surely, Proteus' face changed to a sickly, pond-scum green, stretching out into bubbles of multiple scales. Wings unfurled from his back, and talons ripped through his boots to form dragon's feet, complete with giant legs.

"I am a shape changer, you little whelp! I will swallow you whole. And believe me, Ares won't miss you!"

If Proteus hadn't said that last line, this might have been Joxer's last day on earth, but to have a new father, one he hadn't even known about, not even care that Joxer would die? No way!

Just like with the game, Joxer wanted one thing and one thing only: to wipe this floor with Proteus' face or any other body part that would reach. In all his twelve years, Joxer had never been at one with his body, but as he stood there facing the dragon, a new power welled up in him . . . Ares' blood, the war of nature, the strife that existed in all mortals.

And with one twist, he sent his power at the dragon—and Proteus reeled. He reeled?!

"Oh, yes!" Joxer crowed. "Who's the whelp now?" he demanded and punched the mighty dragon. Proteus wasn't a physical fighting god. He went out like a light. Joxer had a feeling Proteus wouldn't try that dragon form again in a hurry.

"Ha ha!" Joxer yelled. "Look at me now!" For a few seconds, he just ran around the room, punching his fist into the air.

Then he stopped. How to tell Ares? Should he just casually walk in to Ares' throne room and say, "Hey, Dad, so much for Jett. Did _he_ ever drop kick a god?"

Joxer's bubble suddenly burst when he realized what Ares' opinion of Proteus was. He was a weak god, not even subpar with Hercules. Jett could have smacked Proteus around, and so could have Jace (though Jace was spending more time away from Ares' temple for some reason, missing all training sessions). Even with the lack of training, Jace would have been able to do as good if not better than Joxer.

Joxer would never be as good as either of his brothers if he didn't prove himself in a different way. He had to do better . . . he had to be better. He couldn't just have those flare ups of power when he was angry. There had to be a way that he could use those powers as easily as a flick of the wrist. He could be as mighty as Hercules—mightier. But first he needed to train.

But where? And who would train him? He wouldn't stoop to the level of Hercules and go ask a centaur to give him lessons. And he certainly wouldn't like the academy anyway. He didn't get along well with others. Every day made him angrier, and his volatile fistfights wouldn't go well over there. Where would he be welcome? Where would his temper be an asset not a detriment?

Suddenly, strange music filled the air, and two eyes filled with peacock feathers appeared.

"Oh, hi Grandma," Joxer said as the body that belonged to the eyes appeared and gave him a big grin. Hera the queen of the gods was paying her grandson a visit.

"Hello, grandson. Are you having troubles?"

"How'd you know?"

"A grandma always knows. Tell me what you need."


	29. Chapter 29

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It had been six days of Joxer trying to get a handle on his abilities. Inside her temple, Hera sent goon after goon towards him, and each time Joxer ended up dropping his sword or falling on his backside, until the whole area rang with laughter from his opponents.

Even the priests of Hera snickered in the corner, though they tried to be devout. Finally, after the three hundredth fall, Joxer just stayed there, feeling and looking dejected.

"I've been observing," Hera said, coming to his side and drawing him to stand next to her. "You have a problem with the mortal blood at war with your Ares' blood. It wages a war inside."

"It has to do the same to Jett and Jace!" Joxer exploded. "But Jett moves like a snake, and Jace is so fluid he's like water. Why am I the idiot?"

Hera just hugged him. "Many people who feel like the idiot are stronger, braver, and better than the ones who feel as if they are the best. Take, for example, Zeus' pride and joy, Hercules. Zeus ignores his other children to dote on a misbegotten seed. He goes on and on about Hercules cleaning out stables. Stables! And yet he ignores the subtle beauty of Ares' wars. The one with Troy? The Oracles say it will last ten years. All over the beauty of one woman. In addition, Ares convinced Aphrodite to help with that one. Two siblings, god siblings working together, and yet Zeus likes manure?"

"He sounds like my mom. The only thing she says to me is, 'Joxer, can't you be more like Jace?'" Joxer frowned. He had heard that so many times, if he had had a dinar for each, he'd be richer than Fortune.

"Exactly! And yet Jace isn't following our path."

"What do you mean?" Joxer asked.

Hera just smiled. "I know why he's missed his training sessions, but I digress. No need to talk about the others who shine without trying. Let's talk about the ones who don't. Joxer, one day you will shine. How do we stop your blood from fighting?"

"Maybe if I just concentrated harder!" Joxer said and closed his eyes, trying to spin his sword around. It ended up in the chest of one of Hera's priests, who fell over. "Well, I didn't mean for that to happen!" Joxer yelped.

"It's alright. I think he was the one thinking of leaving my service anyway." Hera gazed at Joxer, her ultra-blue eyes judging him. "I believe you might need an item of focus. Have you heard about Hercules and that disgusting lion skin he wore for a time?"

"Yeah . . . so gross."

"Yes, well, so was the toga he wore under it. At any rate, it wasn't just for a disgusting show. It helped his strength focus so he didn't get out of control. You see, Joxer, half-gods are riders of wild stallions. That power is so hard to control. Mortals were never meant to spring forth from gods. But gods have always broken rules. So we have you running around, never knowing what to do with the power you have in your blood. To combat this, an item can be used to focus on. Would you like a lion skin?"

"Only if I wanted a lobotomy as well," Joxer retorted.

Hera laughed. "That's why I like you. Zeus should show some interest in his grandchildren, and then he'd see real courage. Anyway, what kind of apparel would you like?"

"Maybe a hat? I don't like the idea of wearing the same clothes every day. I only take a bath once a month after all."

"We have to talk about your hygiene. Well, a hat we can do." She closed her eyes, and in Joxer's hands a hat appeared. It was the silliest thing he'd ever seen, a straw hat with a point to its top and many short metal spikes around the rim.

"This is stupid looking!" he moaned.

"Exactly!" Hera declared. "Joxer, your blood of a god isn't your strength, at least not the mental kind. Your mortality has a mental power that rivals the gods. That's why humans are so intriguing to my husband and so . . . terrifying to me. They have powers we gods don't understand. To get in touch with your god blood, you need your mortality. I can't think of a better way than wearing a silly hat. If you feel like a mortal more than a god, then you will control yourself better. It will still take a lot of training, though."

Joxer sighed. He thought he _already_ felt like a mortal nine times out of ten. Why would a silly hat do anything but make him look stupid? But . . . he trusted his grandma. So, he put that hat on. It adjusted to the size of his head. So, it would grow with him. That meant no way of outgrowing the hat. Perfect . . .

He felt a bit different, though as he retrieved his sword. There was something different about wearing a hat. It _did_ make him feel silly, and in that silliness, he almost laughed. He suddenly saw his struggle as the rest saw him. It was funny!

He chuckled as he went through the swordplay Hera had shown him . . . and he didn't throw his sword. As goons started advancing on him, he started fighting—really fighting! He laughed as he threw two of the goons at once and then did a spin which was more like ballet. Somehow, his blood had stopped boiling and was in unison.

Then he dropped his sword again.

"Well done, Joxer!" Hera saluted.

"I dropped my sword!" Joxer complained.

"Of course you did. You are not perfect. You will still fail many, many times. But at least you fought . . . and you fought better than Hercules." Her eyes gleamed. "Say, I have an idea."


	30. Chapter 30

Chapter Thirty

Xena stared at Joxer. They had stopped to rest Argo and allow her to get some food. "Are you telling me you took on Hercules at the age of thirteen?"

"Well, I was closer to fourteen."

"That's not my point. Gods certainly have a funny idea about coming of age."

Joxer snorted. "That's funny. I thought at the age of thirteen you purposely started a barn fire in Amphipolis."

"It was an accident! And it only happened because I ran with the wild kids in my village, not because the queen of the gods demanded I take on the champion of man, Joxer. Don't change the subject."

"What is it with you and fire anyway?" Joxer asked.

"Keep to your story."

"Fine. Yes . . . I took on Hercules. Thanks to my hat, I was actually able to focus enough to kill him."

Xena closed her eyes. "Joxer, you may be a half god and have kept a secret all this time, but you're still Joxer. You couldn't have killed Hercules."

"Why not?"

"Because he's still alive!"

"Yeah, just kidding," Joxer said with a playful punch to Xena's shoulder. "Anyway . . . so there I was . . ."

Joxer tracked Hercules' steps to a sunken valley. He had no idea why Hercules would be here. It seemed to be a pretty dismal place, and there were bones everywhere! "Ew," Joxer noted as he skirted a pile on the side of the road, a road that was slowly diminishing, as if no one wanted to go further, not even road makers.

This was the first time Joxer was completely on his own, and even his own shadow was creepy. He adjusted his hat (he was quickly starting to hate this thing, but it was useful) and kept going, watching Hercules' tracks go deeper and deeper into the dark forest. As he himself entered under the canopy, outside sound was swallowed up.

The density of the trees made for quite the spooky place. "I'm the son of Ares," Joxer murmured. "I am not afraid . . . mostly."

Then a loud and quite disconcerting whinny was heard. It sure sounded like a horse . . . a horse that had escaped from Hades. It had almost a mechanical sound to it, and the galloping feet . . . shook the earth as it appeared.

"Oh . . . that is a weird horse," Joxer yelped, frozen in fear.

Because the horse had blood dripping from its teeth. When its wild eyes fell on Joxer, it reared upwards and . . . oh no, fire? Yes, fire leapt out of its nostrils and flipped into a tree, burning the top. The continuous dampness made short work of the fire, otherwise the whole place would have been aflame soon.

"Good horsey," Joxer soothed.

But it _wasn't_ a good horsey at all.

"Yikes!" Joxer said and probably that witty statement would have been his last if someone hadn't barreled in front of him and tackled the horse.

The new arrival had sandy blonde hair, packed muscles, braided leather pants, and a yellow shirt. "Go, get out of the forest," he grunted as he struggled. "You'll be safe at the road end."

Joxer didn't think so. "You're Hercules, aren't you?"

"What? Are introductions really necessary here?" Hercules asked. "Get out of here."

"No! I have come to defeat you," Joxer said, trying to remember how his father dealt with Hercules. Ares had a lot of . . . memories that he displayed sometimes on movie night. He and Joxer and Jace would sit and learn how Ares dealt with Hercules. (Well, Ares was more intent on Jace and Jett learning; he didn't care if Joxer was there at all.) All Joxer saw was Ares on the ground more often than not, but what did he know?

"You what?" Hercules asked incredulously.

"You having your hands full just makes it easier."

A slight sting at the dishonor of this made Joxer hurt inside. After all Hercules had just saved his life, and here he was about to kill him. Joxer pushed that aside. Warriors didn't feel guilty. He drew his sword, focused his strength and attacked.

Hercules, even while struggling with the mad mare, managed to duck the blow. "Look, kid, I . . . am a bit busy here! And you're going to get killed!"

"No, you are!" Joxer retorted and struck again.

Suddenly more angry whinnies filled the air. Joxer's face turned ashen. "There are more?"

"Oh cripes," Hercules said and punched the mare. In the same breath he charged Joxer and picked him up. But he didn't throw him into the air or pummel him. Instead, he ran, holding Joxer like one of those balls the boys used when playing in the village.

Hercules was still saving his life! Joxer didn't know what to think. This wasn't how Ares acted. Ares would have allowed him to get killed, but Hercules . . .? Joxer could feel the fear radiating off of the half god, the concern for Joxer's safety.

Even Joxer's own father hadn't given one hydra's head if Joxer lived or died, but a complete stranger risked his life for someone who would kill him.

Finally, Hercules reached the road end and gently put Joxer down. "The Mares of Diomedes are, lucky for us, trapped to the forest. What are you doing here, kid?"

"The name's Joxer!" Joxer said proudly. "I am the son of Ares." He wanted to add, "and your executioner," but it seemed even more wrong now.

"That explains why you want me dead," Hercules said wryly.

"You . . . saved me, even though you knew I was trying to kill you. I don't understand."

"Well, I have two children and another on the way. If anything happened to them, even if they were trying to kill someone, I don't know what I'd do."

"But . . .you don't even know me, and you hate Ares. Why would you help me?"

"Because it's the choice I've made."

"Choice?" Joxer asked.

"I'll try to explain. I have been trying to figure out these Mares' weakness all day. I am beat. Care to join me for dinner? You look like you need a good meal."

Joxer nodded, but inside he felt a warm bubble coming up. First, this half god had cared enough to save Joxer's life, and now he was concerned with him getting a decent meal. It was almost like . . . how a real father would act. For the moment, Joxer tabled his plan to fulfill Hera's wishes, and joined Hercules for dinner.


	31. Chapter 31

Chapter Thirty-One

Their destination was coming up pretty quickly, Xena noted. In only about three hours she and Joxer would be at the village where Dahak was supposed to be making a comeback. The sun was starting to sink low, so it'd probably be better to wait until morning to reach the village, not in the dead of the night. Xena always preferred the light around her not darkness. With light, she could see the many moves any warrior made but at night . . . well, she would have to feel for the attack, and that got tiring, especially when she had to take on Dahak again, a god or dark evil entity, whatever, that had once almost made her lose Gabrielle before.

She wouldn't admit it to Joxer, but the rumors blowing around had her on edge. It's one of the reasons why she was very glad to have an excuse to leave Gabrielle behind. Dahak had already hurt her too many times.

"Alright, Joxer, why not take a rest for this night. We'll reach the village tomorrow. Why don't you finish your story, and why not leave out all those extra adjectives you keep throwing around. I don't need "The mighty Hercules, son of Zeus," thrown around every five seconds. Just get right to the details."

"Xena!" Joxer said, offended. "You have been around Gabrielle long enough. You know bards never take the straight route to a story!"

"I haven't read Gabrielle's scrolls for that very reason," Xena said with a sharp gaze at him.

"Not once?" Joxer asked surprised.

"I just . . . don't have the time to wade through all that poetic license."

Joxer shook his head and gave her a smile. "Well, you're missing out then. To quote Gabrielle, 'You have to learn to smell the flowers.'"

"The gods made two of them," Xena muttered but then glared at Joxer. "The only thing I'm missing out on is my wasted time. Get on with it."

"Fine, fine. The Mighty . . . I mean Hercules was very nice to me. Succinct enough?"

"Getting there . . ." she said, her icy blue eyes starting the process of checking her sword for a dull edge. Joxer highly doubted there was one, but he himself had chosen to sharpen his sword as a way out of a conversation before, so he understood when Xena wanted to get on with it. Personally, he just thought Xena didn't read Gabrielle's scrolls for one of two reasons. One she didn't want to hear Gabrielle's quite flowery language about how great Xena was and all her successes—a sure embarrassment to a woman who didn't think she'd ever atone for her crimes. And the second was because while Joxer and Gabrielle saw in those scrolls tales of triumph and success over tremendous odds, Xena saw failures—Perdicus, Callisto, Lyceus, and the list went on.

"And Ares calls me a pessimist," Joxer murmured but continued with his story just as fast. He didn't want Xena sharpening her sword on his hide.

"Hercules wanted me to get a good meal and a decent night's sleep."

Hercules again pointed to the sky. "It is getting late, young man," he said.

Joxer grimaced to cover a smile. He had never felt this kind of care before. "If it's all the same to you, I'd actually like to sharpen my sword. You know my father says 'A warrior never gets bored with his sword.'"

"Your father has always been a few hairs short of a Hydra," Hercules muttered.

"That doesn't make any sense," Joxer retorted, feeling a little overprotective of Ares. He may have been a jerk, but he was his father.

"It does if you know him." Hercules sighed. "Look, kid, Ares isn't the greatest guy in the world. He is the God of War. But even before he was chosen, he was still a jerk. Everything he has or does isn't because he loves what he has or cares about them. It's all for his own ego, to raise himself to be better than just a normal god. You see, our father Zeus should never have had children, and yet he did. But he doesn't really care about any of them, Ares especially. Zeus is too busy chasing skirts to worry about his children."

"That's nice," Joxer said and pointedly drew his sword to start sharpening it.

"The point is . . . eh, what can I say to a son about his father?" he asked and looked rueful, as if he was thinking about his own father. "Just be careful . . . you haven't made a choice yet. But time will come, where you have to make a choice about what kind of man you want to be. You can listen to Ares and kill innocent people who have done nothing other than be born or you can choose a better path."

"Actually it was Hera who wanted you dead."

"Why am I not surprised?" Hercules said and threw his hands up in the air.

"Um . . .," Joxer said hesitantly. "What kind of choice would _you_ make?"

"The choice I did make. I was once a young man, you know. My strength killed someone. I found out firsthand the pain caused by having god blood in my veins. I chose right then and there to never allow it to win again. I chose my mortal side, what my mother taught me. I never have regretted it even with all the monsters Hera has thrown at me or the thugs who want to make a name for themselves. I could have made amends with Hera years ago. But to do that I would have had to embrace the god blood in my veins. Hera wouldn't have seen a god as a threat—she never has. It's mortals she despises. So every other week, I fight a new goon or monster, but I have won the war, by being the best man I can be. Do you understand?"

"Nope, not even a little," Joxer retorted. "I will help you with the Mares as you saved my life, but we are enemies!" He said this quickly and without fire, just to cover up the first thing he wanted to say—which was, "Could you be my dad?" It sounded pathetic and disloyal.

 _I am the son of Ares,_ he reminded himself. It didn't matter that his mother did want Joxer to be peaceful, and like Hercules' mom with Hercules, she wanted Joxer to be a good man—she would _love_ if Joxer started being a hero.

But . . . Ares was his father, and even now he could feel the war between the worlds, between mortal and god. Maybe one day he could be more . . . but Hercules would finish this task and return to family—a family which didn't include Joxer. He had to face it: Hera was his grandmother, and Ares was his father. That's where he belonged.


	32. Chapter 32

Chapter Thirty Two

Hercules would have let Joxer sleep in and returned to the Mares by himself, but Joxer expected just that. As Hercules quietly put the fire out and tried to sneak away, Joxer sat up and said, "Morning. Shall we tame some horses this morning?"

Hercules groaned and turned around, then gave Joxer a smile. "I should have known better than to try and sneak away from a son of Ares."

"Yeah, you really should have," Joxer responded but tried to become more hostile with this man, his enemy—the enemy of his father and grandmother. "But one day you will never take me for granted, half-god!"

Hercules chuckled. He wasn't taking him seriously. Oh well, Joxer couldn't change that. "So, Joxer, why don't you go and grow up more. Maybe one day we'll meet again. I'll take care of the Mares."

"Oh, no you won't." Joxer hesitated. "Um, please, let me help. I want to repay you . . . for saving my life."

"Ares wouldn't care. If we had time, I'd share with you a tale of when I was just a lad. I defended Ares on Olympus in a trial of the gods. He didn't even thank me. And his punishment, had he been guilty, would have been an eternity in the bowels of Tartarus. So, kid, if you want to be like Ares, you're off to a bad start."

Joxer didn't like the sound of that, but he didn't care. His mother's words came to him, "debts are always repaid." And right now he owed Hercules. If Ares couldn't do that then . . . well, maybe he was just a bum. "Well, I can make a different decision than my father."

"Yes, you can," Hercules said. "If you want to help with the Mares, you have to do everything I say. If I tell you to run, you don't hesitate, got me?"

"Okay, but you have to promise not to send me away unless you really need to."

"Deal!" Hercules said and shook Joxer's arm, just like Joxer was a real warrior. Wow . . .

The two of them stood up and headed towards the gaping opening which forced entrance into the forest. Joxer hoped it would be nicer in the light of morning. But he was to be disappointed. As soon as the two entered under the foliage, any outside light was swallowed up. "You know, I don't really like the dark."

"Scares me sometimes, too."

Hercules lit a torch and swung it around wildly. Even the great hero was completely on edge.

"So, what about these Mares?" Joxer asked. "What's their deal? I mean, why are you chasing them?"

"Well, these Mares are the property of Diomedes. From time to time, he allows them outside the forest, and they lay waste to innocent villages. A few days ago, some villagers from nearby Lerna came to me and begged for help. So, here I am."

"Just like that?" Joxer asked.

"Just like that." Hercules shrugged. "It's how my mom raised me. See . . ." His voice regained tension as the torch flickered over the shadows in the forest. It seemed eyes were everywhere. "This life can be just living, and then we are like animals. Or we can be more than our own selfish desires and then we become something more, part of a greater whole." He froze. "Joxer . . . don't move a muscle."

"The Mares?" Joxer said.

But Hercules didn't need to answer as out of the shadows the Mares started coming, snorting their fire and eyeing the two with wild eyes of pure rage. Hercules and Joxer started backing up, to keep the trees to their backs so no Mares could sneak up behind them.

"Heh, any ideas?" Joxer laughed nervously.

"Um, duck?" Hercules responded, and before they could reach the trees, two of the Mares jumped over their heads and circled them in. "Great, we're trapped."

"And we can't, you know, um, herd them out of the forest?" Joxer yelped, narrowly dodging a fireball sent his way.

"Nope, if Diomedes doesn't order them, the Mares are confined to the forest. If they disobey, they will become tame, something no wild animal ever wants."

"But that's what I want!" Joxer yelled, spinning out of the way of a rearing hoof.

"Yeah, me, too," Hercules agreed. "But they know their doom. Unless we find a way of forcing them out, they will avoid the entrance like a plague."

"I got an idea . . ." Joxer said.

"What's that, kid?"

"Run!"

Hercules suddenly laughed. "Yes, kid, that's a great idea!"

"No, it wasn't! It was a desperate scream for survival, particularly mine!"

"No! Run . . . What're your abilities? Knowing Ares bloodline, you have quite a bit. One should be the ability to run."

"Never tested it!" Joxer screeched all the while leapfrogging an angry horse with teeth aimed for his neck.

"Well, Joxer. First time for everything," Hercules said, sounding grim. "See, we need to force these horses out of here. Underneath this soil is a river which went underground. These Mares can't cross running water. It scares them so much that they will run into a frenzy, out of this forest and into tameness."

"Oh, gee, and let me guess, you want me to run a furrow into the ground by my super speed? Well, um maybe. It sure beats getting torn apart by these Mares, so here goes nothing."

"I'll cover you!" Hercules grunted and started whistling at the horses and then subsequently taunting the ones behind.

And Joxer started running, just back and forth while Hercules kept the horses off of him. And Joxer ran and ran as fast as he could in one solitary place until his feet started eating up the ground, churning it like butter, ripping up deep roots and soil.

"Faster, Joxer!" Hercules yelled, holding a Mare in a headlock while Joxer kept running.

He dug so deep . . . finally his feet hit water, and it gushed upwards, filling the furrow with water.

The Mares suddenly with even wilder eyes spotted the water and reared up, starting to gather together near the entrance. "Aim for the horses!" Hercules yelled, and Joxer ran back and forth, right up to the rearing horses, back to Hercules and again. Soon, rushing water spilled out so much, the horses were cowering closer and closer to the entrance.

Tired, Joxer sped up the side of the gigantic furrow and said, "Boo!" and that was enough for the Mares. They as a group crossed that threshold and immediately started docilely eating the grass outside. No more hunger for mortal flesh in their minds.

"Well done, Joxer!" Hercules said. "Uh-oh, whoops!" he exclaimed as Joxer had passed out.

"Sorry, kid," came Hercules' words into Joxer's foggy subconscious. "I'll get you home."

Joxer couldn't move even one finger as Hercules carried him to Ares' temple.

"What have you done to my son?" came Ares' voice. Hey, he actually cares about me, Joxer thought smiling. Finally something more than contempt!

"Nice to see you, too, brother," Hercules said tightly. "Your son has tired himself out. It was my fault."

"I'll bet it was. What'd you do to him?"

"He defeated the Mares of Diomedes."

"Really? That's incredible! He did that? Maybe he isn't so useless after all."

Joxer swelled with pride, ignoring the "useless" comment for now.

"Give me my son," Ares ordered and Hercules passed him over. Joxer felt the warmth of human kindness evaporate as his father's hands clutched him. "Good boy," he added to Joxer. This was what Joxer had always wanted. Now everything would be different. Ares would call him son. He wouldn't sneer when Joxer called him Daddy. Joxer would be trained among his brothers as an equal.

And yet . . . Joxer wished Hercules had been taking him to his house, where Joxer could grow up to be more like Hercules.

He squashed that thought. Joxer was the God of War's son. And that's who he had to be . . . no matter how much his heart wished differently.

"Ares," Hercules said, still staying. "You have a good boy there. Will you take some of my advice?"

"I highly doubt it."

"Let him go home to his mother. You can only ruin him."

"You say ruin, I say enrich. The day I listen to you, Hercules, on how to raise kids is the day I stab myself with a hind blood dagger or arrow or any other sharp pokey item."

"He doesn't deserve you," Hercules argued.

"Take a walk, little brother," Ares ordered. "And if I were you, I'd start training to deal with Joxer one day. He will be the Destroyer of Gods."

Hercules just shook his head. "I can't keep your son from you, Ares. I just hope some of my words have touched him more than your evil." And he was gone.

Joxer lifted his head. "I am going to be the Destroyer?"

"Ah, Joxer, yes. That's what the Oracles said. The one to destroy gods would be able to tame a wild horse. Now, Jett . . ." Ares carried him to a room in his temple and deposited Joxer gently enough onto a bed of pure softness. "He stole some horses but he certainly didn't _tame_ them. The only way to defeat the Mares is to tame them."

"I did . . . technically," Joxer admitted with pride.

"Good enough for me!" Ares crowed. "You are my number one son. Get some rest. When you've rested enough I will take you to Olympus for training. Jett and Jace can do whatever pleases them. I have found my Destroyer!"

"Um, can I see my mom first?" Joxer asked. He suddenly didn't like this as much as he should have. He had been chosen! He was more important than either Jace or Jett! But a small worm was burrowing in his side. His grandmother had wanted him to kill Hercules—a hero of a man—just because of Zeus. Ares wanted Joxer to become that murderer, too, and certainly wouldn't have cried about Hercules being killed.

Joxer rested for the next day wondering which path was best. There was a choice niggling at his mind, but as long as Ares looked at him with that proud look, that other choice, the one to be like Hercules, was easily squashed.

Joxer felt better than ever when Ares brought him a sword. It seemed very familiar. "Hey, I know this sword . . . where have I seen it before?"

"Joxer, when you were seven I tried to give you this sword, but your mother got mad at me when you almost cut your eye out. Strange mortal, that woman."

"Uh, my adopted dad, you know that warlord of yours that you took the place of once to create Jace, Jett, and me. He gave me that sword and my mom took it away."

Ares sighed. "Okay, Joxer, it's time I told you a secret. It's not one of my proudest moments, but you're at the age where you will start learning that parents aren't perfect. I . . . fell in love with your mother! There, I said it!"

"Um, how is that bad?"

"Because I am a god, and she is a mortal. I shouldn't have spent so much time with her. I digress. The warlord that was your adopted father . . . well, he was never the homebody type, so I took his place for way more than one night. I raised you . . . I gave you that sword. Hephaestus forged it and gave it to me, and I gave it to you. For years, I had to pretend to only be that warlord. The other gods would never have let me hear the end of it otherwise."

Suddenly, Joxer felt a warm spot in his heart. There had been a lot of father/son moments as Ares had taken the place of his warlord father. Joxer had wondered why sometimes he hated his adopted father and other times adored him. Ares really did have interest in him as a son!

"Okay, Dad," Joxer said standing up. "You said something about me being a destroyer of gods? How does one do that?"

Ares grinned. "You have to learn about hind blood, son. It's a truly remarkable substance."

Joxer grinned. Whatever Hercules had said didn't matter. Joxer was something more. He _was_ Ares' son not a coward and certainly not a hero.


	33. Chapter 33

Chapter Thirty Three

Xena stared at Joxer, being very careful to cover her reaction to his story. "So, for the next three years, you killed gods . . .?"

"Well, deities. You know about the hierarchy, right, Xena?"

"Of course, it's all Ares ever talked about. Get enough power and almost anyone can be a deity, but it takes a title to become a real god. It's why I wanted to be Destroyer of Nations."

"Hey, yeah! I just thought of something. You were Destroyer of Nations and I was Destroyer of Gods. Cool, huh?"

Xena just stared at him. "Will you get on with it? I know you stopped killing gods. Do you want to explain why?"

Joxer shrugged. "Well . . . this is the hardest part of my tale. My grandma and I had a bit of a falling out."

"You . . ." Joxer said, staring at Hera, the woman he thought he knew. "You sent Pyro to kill Hercules' family?"

"Yes," Hera said without remorse. "His existence was a mockery of Zeus and my wedding vows, and the fact that he was such a . . . beloved man by those pathetic mortals only made it worse. My worshippers left daily to honor him—Hercules a misbegotten seed. It dishonored me, so yes, Pyro destroyed them all. All the better to break the hero of mankind."

So many different emotions warred with Joxer. He remembered how much Hercules had done for him as a lad—still felt that long forgotten feeling of wishing Hercules could have raised him. That different path . . . instead of the one he had chosen. Even now he still cringed about bathing in that tub of blood—even if it had been a dare.

Now . . . Hercules had lost his family, his children, all because Hera was angry at Zeus! It churned his stomach. All of the sudden, Joxer felt . . . lost. Everything his life had become seemed wrong. He stomped out, angry at Hera but angrier at himself. After all, Hera had just sent Pyro. He himself had been directly responsible for the death of many families.

He ran to his mother's house. It wasn't too far away, so he didn't waste any energy. Saradora greeted him with a smile and a hug. "Ah, Joxer, you always visit me. That's something."

She welcomed him in, and he looked at the table. "You're eating lunch! I'm sorry for interrupting."

"No problem. I'm sure there's enough for both of us."

"This is what you're eating? A pre-packaged Salmoneus instant dinner?"

"It's simpler . . ."

"Mom, sit. I will make you a real lunch, and get rid of this thing," he said, sneering at the brown container and quickly tossing it out the open window. "The things these merchants get away with these days."

He got to work making his mother some rabbit stew, but he lapsed into silence, letting his overactive imagination see Hercules coming home to a burning house—seeing his family burning in front of him.

"You're quiet, Joxer," Saradora said. "Should I sing you your favorite song?"

"I wouldn't say it's my favorite song, Mom." Joxer grimaced. "And please don't. It's moronic."

"You made up the words . . . or don't you remember?"

Joxer shook his head rapidly. "No, no way. I would never say 'never hurts the other boys even when they steal his toys.' That's a mark of a coward."

"A peacemaker . . . you know Joxer real heroes don't need violence to save the world. Turning the other cheek is pretty important, too."

Joxer didn't want to have the same argument again. It always happened when he returned home, and his mother remained true to form. "Leave Ares' path. Please. Violence doesn't save the world."

"Surely you jest," Joxer retorted. "Look, let's just have a nice lunch."

"Alright . . . but I have to eat quickly. I received a letter from Alcmene. She's distressed about Hercules, and I thought I'd lend her a mother's shoulder."

"Because of his family, right?" Joxer felt the anger burn again. Sure, his father was War, but Ares never just murdered innocent families while they slept.

"It's more than that. Hercules has gone mad with vengeance. Alcmene is afraid he'll catch Hera's judgment and then . . . well even Zeus can't interfere if Hercules goes directly against her in a war."

Joxer sat there in silence, letting the meal finish the same. He bid his mother good-bye as she went to travel and still he sat there. The memories of the Mares washed over him, letting the feeling of a warm father wash over him. Hercules had saved his life . . . He had shown Joxer such kindness, just because Joxer reminded Hercules of his own kids.

Now those kids had been ripped away from Hercules. Hercules had lost everything . . . and it was Joxer's own family line that had a hand in it. All the times Joxer went after deities, he made it better in his mind saying it was justice. Those deities had been far from innocent. He had wiped them out with no morals, because in this case War was Just. Yes, he knew that Ares had petty wars. Even now he was toying with the idea of using children in battle, as he went after a new power source. But Joxer did his job with justice firmly in mind.

And what Hera did had been _wrong_ , unjust. It went against Joxer's soul. But . . . what could he do? Hera was the Queen of the Gods. Deities were one thing, but . . . oh well. Best to just give it up and shut down his feelings like Ares had taught him.

Suddenly, Ares appeared in front of him. "There you are! What in my name are you doing here?"

"I was visiting my mom."

"Oh, sheesh, I thought you had given up on her a long time ago."

"No, I've always visited her. What do you want?"

"Joxer! Her very existence is against us war mongrels! She is a . . . " He wrinkled his nose and nearly spit the next word. "Pacifist!"

"Isn't that noble?"

Ares looked horrified. "No, it isn't! It's . . . suicidal."

"So . . . we can't all be warriors."

"Yeah we can . . . but I am not here to argue with you. I just wanted to know if you thought about . . . well, you've killed deities. You have done a great job. Ever thought about killing something bigger? I know hind blood works really well on deities, but I'm kind of curious. How about someone like Aphrodite or . . . um Hera?"

"You're off your crackers," Joxer spit. "The deities gave me hard enough time. Besides . . . they are necessary to the world. I shudder to think what would happen if even you lost your godhood. The ramifications for mortals would be . . ."

"Mortals?" Ares demanded. "You seem to care an awful lot about them. Besides I think you missed something. You're not a god. You don't choose who to go after. I do."

Joxer laughed, sitting back in his chair. "I am the Destroyer of Gods. I only listen to myself. So, go away, Dad."

Ares clenched his jaw and shot a glare at him. "Say . . ." he said abruptly changing the subject. "Have you heard about what happened to Hercules?"

Joxer stopped smirking. "Yes . . ."

"Since you are so concerned with mortals . . . well, Hercules' family were all half mortals, well a quarter mortals, whatever. Hera just snipped them out of existence. I guess you don't care about that. I thought you said once you were for justice."

Joxer couldn't answer.

"Ah! I get it! You're afraid out of your boots."

Joxer shot him a sideways glare. "What?"

"You don't think you're good enough to go after the queen of the gods, so you ignore this injustice. I thought better of you, son, I really did. Well, a coward has taken over my son."

Joxer slammed one fist down on the table. "Wrong! I just wasn't sure if hind blood would kill a god."

"If you use enough blood . . . if you have the strength of conviction. Not even Hera can fight you. So, what will it be son? Leave this injustice or avenge it? You are the only one equipped with the ability to do this, but I would decide quickly. I thought you liked Hercules . . . Oh, and good old Mom is about to destroy him for crushing one of her temples." With that Ares disappeared.

Joxer needed to help Hercules. It was the least he could do. But talking to him wouldn't help anything. Hercules was too emotionally gone to accept the son of war's advice on anything. Joxer hoped someone else would steer Hercules right. The least Joxer could do was avenge Hercules family for him—like any son would do a father who had lost something.

The Destroyer of Gods was going to go after the Queen.


	34. Chapter 34

Chapter Thirty Four

The Queen of the Gods' temple . . . Normally, Joxer would be coming here to talk to his grandma, but he hadn't been here for about a week, and this time he was coming to kill her. A war was splitting Joxer's heart in half. A big part of him suddenly remembered his mom's words. "Never hurts the other boys even when they steal his toys . . ." A childish and silly song, but . . . it held the words of a pacifist.

No matter what anyone did to you, turn the other cheek. Don't return violence with anything except peace. Joxer had to admit if he followed his mother's words he wouldn't have this sharp and painful thorn seeming to tear him down the middle. If he didn't kill Hera . . . Hercules would die. If he did . . . his grandmother who had always been there for him would die. If he did nothing . . . well, it wouldn't feel great, but it would hurt a lot less.

"I am the Destroyer of Gods," he reminded himself. "Emotions are traitors. They only want you to hurt."

And he readied himself for the worst battle he would ever face.

He charged in already holding his sword, having already drenched it in hind blood. Hind blood was a strange substance. It was the only blood on earth that smelled as sweet as roses. And it penetrated the air around him. It was a good thing that Joxer wasn't trying to catch her off-guard. Any god would smell that scent. It was amazing that any god wouldn't tremble upon smelling that scent, so sweet . . . so deadly to the gods who had nothing to fear.

The archway of Hera's main temple was a thousand feet over his head, and those peacock feathers she favored so much were in prominent display, pasting like wallpaper the interior. Joxer warily watched as her priests took note of his arrival. More than one worshipper had tried to take the protection of their god into their own hands.

But Hera's priests just snorted at Joxer. They thought he was being very foolish.

Maybe he was. Some small part of Joxer told him to maybe think this through better. After all, he had never killed a god with a name before let alone the Queen. Maybe he should verify if it worked on a smaller god . . . maybe he should just go after Hercules and warn him about Hera . . . maybe . . .

No! He was the Destroyer of Gods! There was no room in war for double thoughts and endless questions of "what if?" He had made his choice. He would follow it wherever it took him. This particular choice took him straight down the main hallway, under the light of a dozen skylights.

The warmth on his neck reminded him of nature . . . and how much it could get affected with the Queen of the Gods' death. Darn it! Why were so many doubts creeping in? He had always been so sure of himself, but now he felt buried . . . what result was going to come of this?

Once again he reminded himself of who he was. He was the reckoning of the gods, Ares' son. He had every right to kill anyone he deemed necessary. Right now, Hera was going to kill an innocent man she had already tortured. He was the one who would stop it.

He saw Hera finally. She was sitting on her gigantic throne, most likely sending her eyes towards where Hercules was. Within an instant, she opened her real ones and gazed at Joxer. It seems he stymied her plans for a while. Hopefully Hercules would stop destroying her temples. Even if Joxer failed here today (a thought his brain warned as a real possibility), Hera couldn't continue with her plans to kill Hercules if he stopped his path of destruction. She couldn't get revenge retroactively.

She turned her gaze on his sword, sniffing the air with her delicate nose. Then she laughed. "Oh, Joxer, this path was one I did not expect, not from you. Not from Ares. I did think he loved me . . . unless this path isn't at all what it seems."

"I have no idea what that means," Joxer said. "This is justice."

"Ah, careful, Grandson, you do know that only Justice commands justice, and even a slight twist of the scales can have unheard of ramifications."

"No, Hera. I control justice. With this death, I destroy the Queen of the Gods, the one who callously destroyed innocent people."

"Now, Joxer, don't mince words. I have done way more than that to mortals since the first breath they took on this world. Make no mistake, I am a goddess. We control you mortals, even those with the blood of their betters in their veins. I give you one chance to return to your home and give this foolish quest up. I need to return to my path of vengeance. If Hercules doesn't destroy another temple, I only have about ten more minutes to destroy him. Have a nice day, Grandson."

"Hera!" Joxer yelled. "I don't think you get it!"

This was the moment . . . a choice. Attack or retreat. A third choice was niggling in his mind. If he just kept Hera busy for ten more minutes, Hercules couldn't be destroyed. Sometimes flashes came to Joxer, call it clairvoyance. He could tell even at this minute Hercules was talking to someone who was convincing him to stop his own path of vengeance.

Suddenly . . . he made a choice. It was the right choice. He wouldn't have to kill his own grandma—no matter how bad she was, she was still his blood. There was another way out of this. One that didn't include violence.

And Joxer felt better than . . . since he was a kid.

He wiped the hind blood off his sword. When hind blood touched cloth, it lost its ability to kill gods, a strange side effect.

"Good choice, Joxer," Hera said with a smile. She was about to close her eyes, but Joxer smiled widely.

"No problem, Grandma!" he said and rushed towards the throne, picking her up and twirling her around.

"Now, Joxer, stop that!" Hera scolded. "You're making me dizzy. Are you trying to attack me?"

"Me? Of course not. We're family!" He grinned at her. "Tell me a story, Grammy."

"Joxer, you're acting like a child," Hera said. "Would you put me down? It's hard to concentrate on my immortal revenge if you continuously spin me like a top."

"Yep, that's the idea. Sorry, Grandma, but ten minutes have passed. And Hercules has made a decision to return to being a hero. You can do nothing to him now."

Her eyes blazed as he gently put her down.

"No hard feelings? I mean, haven't you done enough to Hercules? He did lose his family, and he wasn't even responsible for Zeus' infidelity."

"You are . . . a stupid idiot, blood traitor. You share a part of me, and you turn against me!"

"Hello! I was going to kill you a minute ago, and you weren't as angry."

"Of course not! That's what gods have done since the beginning of time. Zeus killed his father, and Cronus killed Uranus. It would only fall into the right order of history if you had actually managed to kill me. But this? You should be on my side, like Ares is. He despises Hercules, why can't you?"

"Hercules is not despicable." Joxer was getting frustrated. He didn't understand his family. How could he continue on the path they wanted for him?

"Yes, he is!" Hera shrieked and stomped to her throne. "And you prevented me from killing him in the one time he was so consumed with vengeance that he wouldn't care about the godly rules. He was a prime victim. That's why I set Pyro up in the first place! I knew Hercules losing his family would lead him down my path. Now it will never work again. Humans, even half-humans, build up calluses. Especially emotional ones. If he loses his family again ever, he will still remain who he is. If anything he'll go off somewhere and stop being a hero. He'd never go after revenge again! And you . . ."

She stopped and narrowed her eyes at him.

"You were responsible. Joxer . . . you have my ire. Furies . . . come to your mistress."

Within an instant, three red forms flashed wildly into the room and Megaera, Tisiphone, and Alecto showed their faces. "Yes, oh great Hera?"

"I invoke the loyalty curse. Joxer has betrayed me. He came after me to destroy me. Now . . . I ask that I get satisfaction."

"As Joxer made his choice, you have every right," they said in unison, smirking at Joxer. They never had liked him. Once, they had appeared in Ares' temple and tried to get him to join them in a nice frolic. Joxer had been too afraid of three women all covered in blood to think much, so he had run screaming from the temple. They had never forgiven him.

"Wait, what choice did I make? This is not fair."

"Which makes it so much fun!" Alecto said blowing a raspberry at him.

"My choice means . . ."

"It means, idiot," Megaera said, "that Hera has the right to curse anyone you love with insanity or persecution, her choice.''

Joxer's heart sunk like a stone. Sure, he had accepted his own risk in all this. If he failed he died—the way of the warrior. He had no idea his choice would make it so Hera could use it against him. "I'm sorry . . . look, just curse me. My family had nothing to do with this!"

"No . . . No, Joxer." Hera's eyes blazed with fire he had never seen before. "I will never allow a slight against me to remain unchallenged. You have to learn what it's like to go against the Queen of the Gods. It's not enough that every god can curse you now."

"Excuse me?"

Hera laughed, sounding a little insane. "Yes, Joxer. I am the Queen! Why do you think I remained married to Zeus even after his betrayals? The job comes with certain perks! When you made the decision to attack me, you painted a target on your back. Even with Ares' protection order on you, any god can come after you. But this is a small curse. I need you to suffer. Who do you love most?"

Without meaning to, Joxer suddenly thought of his mom. Yes, he cared about his brothers and even Hercules a little, but when it came down to pure love, his mom was it. No! "No, please."

"Yes, Furies! I ask the boon of insanity on Joxer's mother."

"Done!"

"Oh, and Joxer, remember I am being lenient. I could have asked it on your entire family except Ares. So, be pleased." With that she disappeared, followed by the Furies, and Joxer was left alone.


	35. Chapter 35

Chapter Thirty Five

Joxer was running as fast as he could. His mother's house was barely a stone's throw away from Hera's temple. And yet . . . it seemed as if it took forever to reach it. Come on . . . come on! He urged himself.

What had happened to his mother? Was she just going to be raving when he got there? Was she going to be attacking people? Many different scenarios filled his brain and he urged his feet faster, faster . . .

He barreled into his childhood home, looking desperately for his mother and hoping that maybe, as illogical as it sounded, that his mother was immune to the Furies. There were mortals who could fight the affects.

All hopes were dashed as he entered the kitchen. His mother was in front of him, casually taking a gigantic cutting knife and slicing thick pieces of skin off her forearm.

"Oh, sweetie! I'm making dinner. Would you like a piece?"

Horrified Joxer rushed across the room and dragged the knife away from her, quickly pulling the tablecloth off the table to press against the bleeding flesh. "Oh, Mom . . ."

"Now, Joxer, stop that. I need to make dinner. Ares will be home soon . . . I so hope his influence doesn't destroy my baby boy." She affectionately caressed his cheek, leaving a bloody trail. "I have such high hopes for my baby boy. You're not like Jett or Jace are you . . . you have a destiny. You can save the world or destroy it. Sing the song, Joxer. Sing the song . . ."

Joxer sighed, letting a tear fall. The Furies had destroyed her. "Joxer . . . the Tidy, always plays insidey, never hurts the other boys even when they steal his toys . . ."

She collapsed at his side, weak from blood loss. She would need to be taken care of . . .

"The poor thing," Ares said, just there. "See what happens . . . you should have listened to me. Your arrogance has caused this."

"I know!" Joxer spit. "What do you want?"

"She's doomed, Joxer. Most gods, like myself, always give a caveat for the Furies. You know like with Orestes. If he had just had his mom tried in a fair trial, he would have gotten off easy. Instead he had some kind of problems with his mommy so he is now a psycho!"

"And?" Joxer asked, starting to stitch his mother's arm back together.

"Well, your mother is doomed. I'm afraid she will probably have continued cutting until she cut her very arm off if you hadn't been here. She needs constant supervision. The best place is the asylum in Andreas. Want me to transport?"

Joxer nodded, gritting his teeth. He wanted revenge more than anything else. Look what Hera had done to his mother! He needed to get together with Ares and figure out what to do now, to continue Ares' ultimate plans.

First, though his mother was more important. He needed to set her up where she could be taken care of. Within an instant, Ares had transported Saradora and Joxer to a nice room, open and lit up. It was perfect . . . "Thanks, Dad," Joxer muttered. "It's almost as if you knew this . . ."

Suddenly, Joxer broke off, more horrified than before. "You didn't . . . . did you? Did you know this was going to happen?"

Ares held his hand to his chest in mock shock. "Did I know my own mother would do this? You give me too much credit."

"You did!" Joxer said and gently deposited his mother on the bed only to slam Ares into the wall, letting his head knock the stones to their foundation. "You set this up?!"

"I was just showing you the crimes of the gods, Joxer, and why my world, our world, is needed. Together we can end the gods' reign. But you had started not listening to me, all for what you think of as justice. Do you see now? Who can pay, who can suffer if you don't listen to everything I say? Forget your anger. Leave it behind. Don't give in to petty mortal conceits. Take your rage and turn it into fuel. Hera is a target, one day . . . unless she works with us. But I mainly want Zeus. If you go after him next, listening to my exact plan, then one day we can even control the Furies. Then your mother will be fine . . ."

Joxer pushed him away, breathing in ragged breaths. He didn't know what to do here. What Ares said made sense. Joxer might have been able to kill Hera if he had just followed through with his plan . . . Now, his mother was suffering. Even now she was picking at her stitches, causing fresh blood to seep through.

Maybe . . . Ares was right. Warriors made the world, not justice.

"Never hurts the other boys . . ." His mother was singing.

Suddenly, Joxer felt outside of himself, looking down the path of two futures. One where he followed Ares and sent the gods to their knees . . . the world would quake . . . and Joxer's soul would be ripped asunder. That battle would take all sorts of casualties—Joxer himself being one of them.

There was another . . . one that felt more right with every word of his mother's song.

This would never have happened at all if he had listened to his heart and not Ares. If he had just gone and talked to Hercules and reminded him of what was right, of what was good in this world of theirs . . . Hercules would have surpassed vengeance for peace, and Hera wouldn't have had the right to kill him. Everything solved . . . without violence.

And as Joxer watched his father's smug face—he seemed to think he knew what this outcome would be—Joxer realized that one of the paths would make Ares very happy. And the last thing he wanted was for the man who had set this in motion to be happy!

"I . . . never hurt the other boys," Joxer said slowly.

"What in Tartarus does that mean?!" Ares asked, the smug expression gone.

"Just what it is. I will never hurt anyone ever again—I won't fight again."

Ares clutched his stomach as if he had been wounded. "What?! You aren't serious?"

"I'm deadly serious, Ares. Maybe this time you'll see a casualty in your stupid war that you never expected—me. It's a serious one. But knowing you, you'll get over it. But I won't just leave you. I'm going to dedicate my life to non-violence."

"Agh!"

"That's my baby boy," his mother murmured with a smile that would stop a rampaging army.

"Shut up, crazy woman," Ares yelled. "This is stupid! Do you know how many warlords of mine know you're my son? Every person from here to Hellespont will come to pit their strength against you. If you won't fight, you will die. In fact, I'll send a few of them myself. Reconsider your actions."

"Let them come! Let me die! I will never fight again."

Ares disappeared with a shower of swords, pointedly ignoring him. Inside, Joxer wondered what he was going to do and how much he could really stop himself from fighting if every twit who worshipped Ares wanted to make a name for himself or herself by killing Ares' son. Worry bubbled inside. How long could he _not_ defend himself?


	36. Chapter 36

Chapter Thirty Six

Joxer didn't know where to go or what to do, so he found himself slowly shuffling his feet down a dusty road outside of Corinth. His head hung so low, he could only watch as his feet one by one hit the road. There was very little to feel other than a rip-roaring sadness that raged through his body.

He had changed . . . like Xena. He had heard she had started fighting for the greater good, whatever that meant, but she . . . was helping people now. What could he do? He was now a pacifist. And, yes, it felt so right it hurt. There was no other path for him at least for the time being.

That however didn't make him leap for joy. It just made him hang his head lower. Yes, it was _great_ that Ares was so bothered by his new path. And it was nice to imagine that he'd never have to rob a family of its father or mother ever again.

What was really bothering him was that Greece, no matter where Hercules and Xena roamed, wasn't the safest place in the world. It seemed like every day a new warlord or bandit started roaming. It meant that sooner or later they would try to kill him . . . and he would probably give in like he always did. Joxer kicked a stray stone as hard as he could, sending it into orbit.

And now he was hungry! Depression had no respect! Why couldn't his body shut down? With frustration, he turned on the road that led towards the interior of Corinth. Slowly but surely the road started being filled with tiny pebbles, all stuck as tightly together as possible in order to not get dislodged as the many wagons or horses clattered inside.

There was a nice enough tavern on immediate entrance. Location, location, location . . . so Joxer chose the Dancing Child Horse tavern as his next meal place. He had money, of course. Somewhere out there, there was a cave where all his dinars and gold was stockpiled. He had enough to retire for the next ten lifetimes.

Inside, the tavern was very clean . . . this did not bode well. The filthy places always had better food and fewer bandits. But . . . he was here now and he certainly didn't want to go around the town trying to find a filthy tavern.

Sidling up to the bar, he said, "Give me the special."

"Hog's head on toast, coming up!"

"Make that a hamburger," Joxer said quickly.

"No one ever wants the special," the bartender muttered and went to work.

Suddenly, almost as if on cue, the swinging doors squeaked open and close and open and close and open—geez, just make that door swing once, Joxer thought irritated. But what came with the annoying door were six of the biggest plug-uglies he ever had the displeasure of seeing.

He would normally mop the floor with these guys on general principle. Now, however, it would just make Ares say "I told you so," and prevent Joxer from staying on his path. Joxer sunk into himself, hoping his food would arrive quickly.

"Give us all your money!" the biggest yelled.

"Sure thing, sure thing," the bartender said and went towards the cash register. "No trouble guys, right? I certainly don't mind helping out if you need money."

Joxer smiled. This was going better than he thought. There would be no need for violence. All this guy was going to lose was what was in the cash box at noon. Not a bad loss . . . and Joxer wouldn't have to start fighting.

"Oh, and we would like some girls!"

Joxer closed his eyes. Darn it they were sexist pigs, too. This wasn't going as well as he had hoped. There was no recourse . . . he'd have to fight. So much for his ways . . . so much for what his mother wanted.

"Oh! We do only have, um, one girl today." The bartender grinned, a grin not at all what Joxer would think would be appropriate on the face of a guy who was terrified. What did he know?

"Oh, Lasla, sweetie, can you come out here?"

And a woman came out . . . or maybe it was two women. She certainly was big enough. She was obviously well fed. Joxer didn't know, though, what the bartender's plan was. These stupid bandits wouldn't care if she was fat or thin.

"It seems these guys want you, dear," the bartender said.

"They do! Even after the last ones? I am so thrilled!" she exclaimed. "Hugs?"

"Um . . ." the leader said, but he looked a bit nervous. "Last ones?"

"I'm Lasla the humongous! I usually crush the amorous, but I reward the ones who can handle me. Can you, sweetie?" she winked at the leader, who looked even more nervous.

"Um, what happened to the last ones?"

"Crushed into happy goo, I assure you," she said and then did a little shimmy. "Come, sweeties, join me. You'll feel great before you lose your oxygen. What do you say?"

"You know . . . we have lost our appetite . . . we were just leaving." And they hightailed it out of there.

"Nicely done, Lasla," the bartender said.

"Next time call me quicker," she scolded. "You seem to have almost lost a morning's wages."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Joxer yelled. "That was an act?"

Lasla looked at him and laughed. "You don't think I really could crush a man just because of my girth, do you?"

"Well . . . it does sound ridiculous," Joxer admitted.

"But they don't know that! I help out around here. These thugs seem to spend a lot of time on the road, and they always come in here demanding girls like they are their personal property or something. And Xena and Hercules aren't always around. I learned a long time ago, the first step in battle is winning it in the mind. Scare them . . . or gross them out. Sometimes they even laugh. What they don't do is call me on it. I have never suffered the unwanted advances of an overly amorous patron . . ."

"So . . . you act?" he asked. "You don't need to fight at all?"

"Well, sometimes there are the masochistic boys," she admitted. "But I do know Sumo, but hey . . . it only happens once in a blue moon."

"Thanks, Lasla, thank you so much!" Joxer said and pumped her arm in his gratitude. He never thought about an act, maybe not one like Lasla's—that would get him killed.

"Well, I don't know what I did, but you're welcome," she answered in confusion

She went back to what she was doing, and Joxer ate his meal with a lot more hope than ever before. All he had to do was perfect an act that would get people laughing more than angry, and that would make it so he would rarely be targeted for death.

A newcomer came into the bar. "Give me some wine, please," he begged and the bartender quickly handed some over.

"You okay?" Joxer asked.

"I am now. I just escaped from being killed by Xena Warrior Princess."

"You're a bandit?" Joxer asked in surprise.

"No . . . I am just a simple villager. Xena's army is back in action. I heard she's been poisoning wells and destroying villages."

"No . . ." Joxer said. It couldn't be. Xena had struck such a blow for goodness by leaving Ares' service. She couldn't be back in action . . . she just couldn't be.

Well . . . Joxer guessed it was time to check out if his act would work, and on who better than an evil Xena? If he could stop her from killing him, then he knew his pacifist role would work.

Something niggled though . . . Xena wouldn't poison wells . . . She never intentionally murdered women and children. This didn't make sense. An imposter? Maybe . . . so it was time for Joxer to instead of fighting do some reconnaissance. If an imposter was there, he'd get a bead on their numbers and report to Xena. If she was back in action, maybe he could convince her to give the whole greater good thing another chance.

"Joxer the tidy . . ." he said slowly, and then tried something else out. "Joxer the Mighty will stop her!" he said grandly.

"Who is Joxer the Mighty?"

"I am! Don't I look like a warrior?"

"Um . . ." The newcomer checked out his hat and smirked. "Sure . . . You might want to stay away from Xena, idiot."

Yes! That was Joxer, he was an idiot. And Joxer the Mighty was ready for action!

"So . . . well, you know the rest," Joxer told Xena who was sitting back against a boulder, letting the meal settle. "I met up with you and realized it wasn't you and then met up with Callisto to see if I could gather intelligence."

"So, that's why you were in Callisto's camp again when I fought her!"

"Yep, I didn't want her killing Gabrielle. You were sure taking your time getting there."

"I pushed Argo as fast as possible!" Xena defended.

"Not as fast as my feet," he said smugly.

'Okay, Joxer . . . I'm glad to know everything. I'll wait for the story about Lockinus . . . and Callisto. We have some important fish to fry tomorrow."

"Yes . . . the Dahak cult."

Both were silent, staring at the scattering of stars. There was a strange look to them, a bad omen. Somehow . . . this thing with Dahak wouldn't end well.


	37. Chapter 37

Chapter Thirty Seven

Ellipses were interesting villages. There were groups of many different kinds of houses all separated by class. The rich were clustered together on the west and the poor clustered together in the east. In the center was the merchant class, and this was where Xena pointed Argo. Joxer sighed and slipped his mask on.

"I still really don't like that mask," Xena muttered.

"Well, it's useful, and at least you know what's under it. Oh, and by the way, don't call me Joxer. Remember as long as I am wearing this mask, I have to be known as Lockinus or else."

"This isn't my first fight, Joxer. I realize that your identity must be kept secret. You just be careful . . ."

"And I will, too," came a voice behind them.

Xena spun around to see Gabrielle running up to them. "Wow, I'm impressed. I actually snuck up on you, Xena. Hey, you found Lockinus!" she added.

"Gabrielle . . ." Xena said. "How?"

"Hermes . . . just because he didn't know where Lockinus was didn't mean he didn't know where you are. When are you going to learn that leaving me behind just makes me more likely to come find you?!"

Xena shook her head with a small smile. Then she glanced at Lockinus. "So . . . do you know who Lockinus is?"

"I still am trying to pin that down. I bet its Hercules," she said confidently, making Joxer laugh.

"No, but we have too many people milling around to let you know the truth," Xena pointed out. "I do wish for once you had listened to me, Gabrielle. This village is the site of recent murmurings of Dahak."

Gabrielle swallowed a few times, the normal reaction she had whenever Dahak was mentioned. She had been affected worse than even Xena by him. A child brought into life, that same child Gabrielle had to kill. Then Gabrielle's grandchild killing Hope . . . It was understandable why Xena wanted Gabrielle out of this for a change, but Joxer could have told Xena it was like waving a red flag in front of a minotaur to leave Gabrielle out of it.

"Okay, so what's the plan? Do you want to split up and gather some information, meet back in the square?"

That was Gabrielle for you. Even with what had happened, she was still ready to jump into battle.

Suddenly, without warning a new person came running up.

Someone very familiar.

"Joxer?" Lockinus said, not knowing what else to say. There was Joxer . . . it was him! "No, it's not possible . . ."

"Hey, Joxer," Gabrielle said even as Xena gaped. "I guess you're as bad as I am. Neither of us know when it's better to stay put."

"Hey, Gabby, Xena, Me."

"Wait, what?"

Who said that first was hard to tell. Xena was wondering if she was seeing things. Joxer felt totally strange, because this newcomer was . . . well, him! The normal aura, not like Jett or Jace but his own, like a fingerprint, aura. And Gabrielle? She was the last to know about who Joxer really was, so she was actually asking if he meant what she thought he did.

"Look, just let's get to the inn. It's the only safe place from Iolaus."

"Wait, what?!"

Again, three at one time, but Joxer just sighed and looked at Lockinus. "Man, I didn't realize how stupid that mask made me look. I digress, trust me on this one and let's go—unless you want all your friends to be destroyed."

Joxer looked into his own eyes and realized that this face was so familiar he could tell what he was feeling—fear. "Alright, let's go," he agreed. Xena sighed.

"Our lives just keep getting more confusing. Alright."

The three walked in, Gabrielle staring at Lockinus. "Are you saying Joxer is under there? Or is Joxer just being a pain?"

"One thing, Gabrielle," Xena said. "Joxer is always a pain. Look, just keep quiet. The fate of lives can rest in the balance if we keep talking. Just call the one in the mask Lockinus for the time being and the other one Joxer. It's a long story. I mean, really. Joxer wasted the whole trip here with his tale. There's no time to fill you in."

"Okay, I'll wait . . . but only so long," she added with a glare at Xena. It was understandable. Gabrielle was the bard! And she didn't know the story!

The three entered the inn. Xena had her hackles raised the whole trip but relaxed once they entered the interior. "Why isn't the essence of Dahak here? It is saturated throughout this town. All except for here."

"Hestia is one of the gods that doesn't fear Dahak. She blessed this inn a long time ago."

"Okay, what's going on?" Lockinus demanded.

"Okay, but just remember to calm down," Joxer ordered. Three hostile gazes stared back. Xena because she was getting tired of not being told what was going on and the saturation of Dahak energy had her more on edge than if Alti herself were here.

Lockinus because he was getting a bad feeling of what had happened in order to bring himself face to face.

And Gabrielle because _everyone_ knew more about what was going on here than she did.

"Alright, well, thanks for the understanding," Joxer said with rolled eyes. "First things first—we're all friends here. And no enemy can enter. So, Joxer allow Gabrielle to know who you are."

Lockinus reluctantly removed his mask. Yes, Xena was immune . . . but he had a sick fear that this was all a trick from the gods to make him lose the woman he loved. But Gabrielle just stared and then smiled. "This is incredible. When did you learn to fight?"

"Long story!" Xena yelled.

"Okay, I can forego it," Gabrielle conceded. "For now . . . So, what's the real issue here. Why are there two Joxers? Or is it Jett?"

"No, I am Joxer," he said. "The thing is everyone tomorrow morning will be drastically altered, either killed or . . ." His eyes shot to Gabrielle and sighed. "That's not important now. Let me tell you what happened . . . in my time line. I am from the future. And this is what will happen if we don't prevent it."


	38. Chapter 38

Chapter Thirty Eight

In an alternate future that could be prevented, Xena, Lockinus, and Gabrielle headed straight towards the temple in the center of town. It was a boring plain and round one, no embellishments or anything extra. That labeled it as a Dahak temple. Okay, so did the multitude of people in red robes walking in and out of the front chanting in an undertone "Dahak is king, Dahak is the best."

"Well, this brings back a lot of warm and fuzzy memories," Gabrielle said wryly. She was trying to be strong—Joxer could tell. She always pushed her lip stiff as she could when she was trying. Xena could tell as well, so neither was fooled. Joxer for an instant wondered why friends even bothered to hide their true feelings when if it was a strong enough friendship a person could easily tell what the friend was thinking.

That was why he had chosen to tell the truth most of the time. Xena would have been able to spot a lie easily but a truth disguised as a lie was harder. Joxer wished Gabrielle had caught up with them faster, though. He would have preferred telling her who he was before coming in front of the temple of Dahak again. Now, she kept looking at him as two things: one, a mystery to be solved and two as an apparition, a myth, a legend. What would her opinion be when she found out who he really was?

"You two, stay here. I'll head inside . . ." Xena said.

Lockinus shook his head. "I think I should be the one to go inside, Xena. I am a half god."

"Stay away!" a voice yelled before anyone could argue further. And a new figure joined them. He wore his haircut long and leather black pants with a purplish open vest over his muscular chest. His size was much smaller than Lockinus, and the last time Joxer had seen him, he was helping Hercules with the Golden Hind in an alternate future that never happened thanks to Hercules going back in time. Joxer sighed. It was hard to be a half god. He could see alternate timelines he was involved with. Like the time that the day was repeating. He still remembered the feeling of that chakram slicing his chest in half.

"Iolaus!" Gabrielle said. "How are you? I heard you and Hercules had abandoned Greece or something."

"Not quite, Gabrielle," Iolaus said. Something was off about his charming grin, Joxer decided. "Old Herc is off in Sumeria fighting some ancient evil. We have our own here."

"Dahak," Xena said grimly. "Well, too bad Hercules can't be here. I might save him some of Dahak's new cult, but I doubt it."

"I hope you're not planning on going inside there," he declared and pointed his finger at the open temple door.

"It was my plan," Xena said.

"Well, there's a curse!"

"There's always a curse!" Gabrielle said.

"This one isn't so fun," Iolaus said. "It turns out that Dahak is not the only god of evil. Did you happen to know that he has two brothers?"

"What?!" Gabrielle demanded and pulled out a tattered and old looking scroll. "No! I read through this whole thing. Yep!" she declared after skimming it for a few seconds. "There's no mention of brothers! Why am I always behind these days?"

"No reason to be upset, my little bard," Iolaus said. "He didn't like talking about them, and even the ones that know Dahak best didn't know. Before the gods came, before even the Titans, when the earth was struggling into formation, the darkness came. It choked the other celestial bodies in the heavens, until it came to where Gaia was. To fight her, the darkness formed into three physical forms, hoping Gaia would follow their lead and they together could destroy her.

"Unfortunately, Gaia was more powerful than they had ever dreamed. She didn't buckle under as the other planets did and she fought them. They were unaware that Gaia was pregnant with Uranus at the time, and there is no force as powerful as a mother protecting her young."

"Can you get to the point?" Xena demanded. "With you and . . . Lockinus I feel as if my life is just one big story."

"Well, cutting to the end . . . Two of them were sent back into the darkness and only Dahak survived, trapped inside fire to survive until of course he could be brought into the world with a warrior's heart."

"So, I guess the sacrifices Hope was using were pointless?" Xena said with an arched eyebrow.

"Yes, Hope . . . Well, um, Dahak's little girl was a bit of a disappointment. She was supposed to use her connection with her mother to kill you, Xena, but she was obsessed with pleasing her mother not her father, so she did other things. All pointless really."

"How do you know so much?" Xena demanded.

"Hey, I get around!" Iolaus stated. "Okay, truth is, Hercules and me had some problems with Dahak in Sumeria. Turned out a sacrifice of a warrior's heart was enacted, and that's where Hercules is now. I didn't want Dahak's brothers to go on ignored, so I thought I'd get some . . . help."

"So, what's the brothers' deal?" Xena asked. "And please no stories!"

"It's simple. Whoever kills the priest will die themselves, and as long as the priest lives the brothers will revive."

Stunned silence met those words. Joxer felt the truth of them. He wished Iolaus was lying, but he wasn't. Though there was something . . . fishy here, it could be only the fact that Iolaus was just unwilling to sacrifice himself, nothing underneath. It wasn't because he was lying.

"So?" Iolaus asked. "Which one? I'd do it, but . . . you know Hercules would break down completely if I died."

"Just go away, Iolaus," Xena said. "We all know who it has to be."

"Yes, me," Lockinus and Gabrielle said at the same time.

"No, me. Don't fight me on this. Remember Prometheus? I was willing to die then and I am willing now. End of discussion."

"That is so not the end of discussion!" Gabrielle retaliated.

"Certainly not," Lockinus said. "The Son of War should be the one to end ultimate evil, not the Warrior Princess."

"And the one who would bring peace and heal, the one who had help in bringing evil into the world in the first place should rectify it herself," Gabrielle argued.

"And you're both being ridiculous, because I won't give you any choice," Xena said.

"You think so?" Lockinus said.

"I'll fight you if I have to," Gabrielle said with a glare.

"You're on your peace way," Xena argued.

"Eli also said I would fail more than once. Call this time a failure."

"Okay, stop," Xena said. "The fairest way would be to draw straws, okay? Why not we go to the tavern and have one last meal together. Then we can draw straws. Deal?"

Both Gabrielle and Joxer nodded. And the trio disappeared around the corner. Iolaus, who hadn't gone far, looked toward the temple. "Soon, my brothers. There will be no more Xena, and one of you will own her body like I own Iolaus'."

Then he laughed, a dark thick sound, inhuman and certainly not being emitted by the body that stood there now. A thin trail of smoke also appeared from his lips as if something deep inside was burning the soul of the man named Iolaus.


	39. Chapter 39

_Authors Note: Thanks for everyone who is sticking with this story. There should be better updates in the future. The senior year of university is taking every minute of Fearforget's time. Keep checking for updates and keep reviewing! Fearforget loves hearing from you . . . Now to continue our story . . ._

Chapter Thirty Nine

The tavern was pretty much depressing now. It wasn't so much the dark walls or the setting sun deliberately killing the light around one inch at a time, and reminding that all people are mortals. It was the fact that Joxer would have to say good-bye to his two best friends in all the world, and he _still_ couldn't tell Gabrielle who he really was! There were two loudmouths over in the corner of the tavern lamenting about the day's harvest and lack of good girls, so anything he said to Gabrielle would be heard by those two.

Even now Joxer had to stay Lockinus. He hoped that Xena could fill Gabrielle in after he was gone. "It was a great friendship," he said out loud . . .

"What was?" Gabrielle asked. "We've only known each other for a short while now."

Lockinus shrugged. Xena quickly put in, "He meant whoever lost would spoil a great friendship. I'll get the drinks."

Then she moved as she always did, like the night, her dark hair flipping behind her. Gabrielle sighed. "I hope I get the longest straw . . . of course, knowing Xena she'll cheat. Hey, Lockinus, keep your extra god sense ready and make sure to tell me if she cheats."

"And why would I help you? Maybe _I_ should be the one to cheat. It has to be me."

"Really? And why is that? Were you the one who stupidly fell for an evil god's manipulations? Were you the one in that temple? Were you the one who got this freaky fire wrapped around you and somehow ended up with a misbegotten child who you tried to save and even now still have guilt, who even now wants to draw your child into your arms and never let go, no matter the evil spawn she was?!"

"Okay, whoa! This isn't about Hope!"

"Isn't it?" Gabrielle asked, tears starting in her delicate green eyes. "Isn't everything? If anyone should die, it should be the monster who allowed a monster to destroy her best friend's child. Don't you see, Lockinus? I brought evil into the world. I have to be the one to get it out. I must, to atone . . . for everything."

Joxer wished he could console her. How little she knew that all of this was his fault. If he hadn't been so . . . quick to become a pacifist, he could have been by their side when Gabrielle and Xena went to Gaul and warned Gabrielle about Krafstar. It wasn't an arrogance to say that Joxer would have known. Just like his father's fear when Dahak had first appeared and Ares had quickly chosen the stronger side, Joxer would have known who his priest was. Period. And yet, Joxer had decided that he had spent enough time with them after the whole day repeating thing and had given them their space. But if Xena were going against Caesar himself, and had known about Joxer's strength, there was no way she wouldn't have wanted him on board. Joxer would have been there.

This was his fault. And someone as pure and good as Gabrielle was shouldn't be here berating herself for something he could have stopped. This was why he had to kill the priest and take on that death sentence. In fact, Joxer was already planning on drugging the drink that Xena would bring back . . . wait, where was she anyway? How long did it take to pour a simple drink?

Then he jumped to his feet. "Where is she?!" he demanded.

Gabrielle quickly looked around as well. "I knew she would cheat! Come on, Lockinus. We've just been cheated out of our rightful deaths. Move!"

Joxer ran out of the tavern looking desperately left and right. Maybe Xena hadn't entered the temple yet and they could grab her! Fat chance of that. Xena was a perfect assassin. She moved like liquid and waited about as long to make her move.

"Hurry, Lockinus!" Gabrielle yelled. She knew her friend, and she wasn't wasting time looking around. Suddenly an image hit Joxer's head.

They were too late.

It didn't stop him from following Gabrielle into the temple. There was no time to see that the inner temple looked a lot prettier than the outside. There was red cloth everywhere forming one long hallway that led into the inner round room. Thousands of feet of red tapestry fell down like blood. And there was the priest . . .

Dead.

On the ground, with Xena standing over him.

"Xena!" Gabrielle yelled. "You're still alive . . ."

"Alive?" came Xena's voice, but it wasn't the soft tones of a Warrior Princess. It was like she had swallowed ten warty toads and spit them up again with every word. "This body, yes, but tragically the one known as Xena is indeed dead."

"No!" Gabrielle screamed. "What happened?"

"Simple," Iolaus said coming from the entrance behind them to stand next to Xena. "I may have misled you a bit. Yes, indeed whoever kills the priest will die themselves, but only the soul. The body will live on. Everyone, I want you to meet my brother, Veln."

"Your . . . brother?" Gabrielle asked, clenching her fists.

"Oh, I guess I didn't tell you. Iolaus is, well, not dead but certainly not alive. We are one being. He invited me into his heart and I know everything he knows. Enough to trick dear sweet Xena into becoming my brother . . . or should I call you my sister now?"

"Don't push it," Veln said. "This body is insignificant."

"See!" Ioluas exclaimed and threw his hands up in the air. "Family! I get his body back and he still doesn't say . . . thank you!"

"Give my friend back! Give her back!" Gabrielle choked out, slightly frenzied.

Joxer couldn't seem to speak. He had failed . . . again! Everything swirled in him until he couldn't breathe.

But . . . there was still a chance, right? As long as he was breathing, there was always a chance. There had been worse problems, worse dangers. So far everyone was alive. Besides! There was still that death vision. If this happened now, how could the death vision occur?

With that bit of hope, he drew his sword. "Why not do as the lady asks, foul demon?"

Iolaus chortled. "Foul demon! That's funny. See, brother, this is why I _love_ mortals. They are always so overdramatic. But I like drama. Like . . ." He gave Joxer a wink. "Hey, sweetheart," he said to Gabrielle who gritted her teeth. It looked like she desperately wanted her staff back so she could hit him with it. "You care to ask _Joxer_ why he hasn't told you who he really is? Hey! You looked surprised. Come now, Joxer, remove the mask."

And with that, he raised both his hands. Joxer felt a tugging at the end of his mask. And in seconds Joxer had no mask, no cloak . . . no disguise. There was only Gabrielle staring at him in horror.

"What?" screamed a worshipper of Dahak from the side. "I . . . Agh!" He screamed again and burned into ash. Ten others followed. Joxer turned stricken eyes into Gabrielle's. What he saw there was not friendly.

"Joxer . . . you . . . why?" she demanded. "Those people!"

"It's . . . a curse."

"A curse?" Gabrielle didn't look as if she could believe him. There was a madness in her eyes, something he had seen only in others—never in Gabrielle. She had been betrayed. It didn't matter that it was Dahak who had just done this or that a curse had killed others. Coupled with the grief of losing Xena, she couldn't see straight. "You just killed all these people. You _let_ Xena go! You lied to me! I trusted you!"

"Gabrielle . . . please."

"Give Xena back!" she screamed, turning back to Iolaus.

"Oh sorry, no can do," Veln shrugged. "But I'm sure if you would like to join us, there would be a place for you. You'd get the body if not the soul, and maybe I could, on some days, let you talk to her. I'm sure we all could find a way to have some . . . fun."

Gabrielle didn't respond. She rushed forward to Xena, and clutched her, looking desperately into her eyes. "Xena, fight him! I know you're in there. Please . . . remember you can't leave me. We have a death vision to go through together. This can't be happening!"

"Gabrielle," Xena's body said, "Go away." And she flicked her finger. Gabrielle was sent flying. To her credit, she desperately grabbed for Xena's chakram, trying to hold on, but Veln was strong and his power sent her flying with the chakram in tow.

Joxer ran forward, knowing it was a fool's hope. Who could take on Dahak by himself let alone him and his evil brother? Joxer was lucky.

Lucky that he healed fast, lucky that being thrown through a roof and into a cold river could only soak him and lucky that Ares' blood sung in his veins. Now he was raring for a fight.

He couldn't just go back though. He needed to make sure Gabrielle was okay first. She had to be a part of any rescue mission. He couldn't defeat both of them alone, and he needed Gabrielle . . . he needed her to remind him that there was hope, for lack of a better word. Because after what he had just seen . . . he was starting to doubt that good even existed in this world.


	40. Chapter 40

Chapter Forty

The last of Joxer's wounds quickly sealed up, as he found Gabrielle. She hadn't gone far from the temple. And as he came across her, she was just sitting there, looking stunned. She cradled Xena's Chakram in her arms and stared off into space.

"Gabrielle," Joxer said hesitantly. "I think there is a way we can save Xena."

"How?" she asked dully.

"Well . . . I don't know _how_ exactly, but there must be a way."

She was silent.

"Gab . . . I didn't mean to keep anything from you. You saw the people in there! That's exactly why I couldn't tell you."

"Your secret _really_ makes no difference now, Joxer. Did you see that? Xena is . . ." She gulped back a sob. "We've been through a lot. She died. I died. Heck, we all died. Callisto stole Xena's body. I even had to deal with the evil Xena trying to kill me. Nothing . . . nothing was quite like staring into her eyes and seeing . . . evil. True evil. Not the evil she was, not the anger that propelled her. Anger is pain, that's what it is. Even when Xena was dragging me across the landscape in Illusia, it wasn't _real._ "

"You never told me about that," Joxer said.

"We thought you had remembered. We hadn't realized that even you coming to the Amazon village was fake. I never really left the Amazon hut, just like Xena never left that mountain of ice, until Solan transported us to that beach," Gabrielle dully continued without emotion. "I had thought for sure the Amazons would want to kill Xena after she attacked them all and their queen, but . . . it wasn't real. Xena would never hurt me in reality."

"Isn't this a bit . . . off topic?" Joxer asked.

"No, Joxer, it isn't!" she said suddenly, turning on him with fire. She advanced on him so much, he had to evade, until his back hit a nearby tree. "It's about reality and fakeness. Your entire friendship is fake. This world is . . . fake. I believed that good always triumphed over evil, that even when there are a few bumps in the road, there was no way ultimate evil could win. Xena did a good deed! She sacrificed herself so others could live, and now where is she? Trapped. An evil soul is within her. All the good . . ." Once again, Gabrielle choked back a sob and turned away. "All the good she wanted to do, to rectify her past. Well, it's all useless. She won't make it. There is no redemption now."

"We can save her," Joxer insisted, reaching out for Gabrielle. She shoved his hands away.

"No . . . _we_ can't."

"What are you saying?" Joxer asked, looking at Gabrielle as if he had never seen her before. And he realized he hadn't. He had such an image of Gabrielle, good, sweet, always stalwart in her defense of others. Yet . . . here she was condemning him. No trial, no jury, just judgment.

"She's saying that someone made her a better offer," Ares said, appearing and looking like the smug jerk he was.

"Ares," Joxer said, setting his chin. He wanted so badly to just punch him, but it was bad enough Gabrielle was skittish about who he was. He didn't need her having more proof that she shouldn't trust him. But Ares being here couldn't be good.

"Hiya, son. Isn't it nice for everything to be out in the open?"

Joxer ignored him. "Don't tell me, Gabrielle, you listened to this snake?"

"And why not?" Ares asked, spreading his hands wide. "I have made an offer that can get Xena back. I, too, don't like this new development."

"He is only in this for his greater good, not the whole," Joxer insisted. "Please, we can figure this out together."

"No," Gabrielle said simply. "Ares may be a little misguided . . ."

"Misguided!" Joxer spit. "Like when he put Callisto in Xena's body? Or maybe when he used a debt to trade Xena's life for your daughter's? Or maybe when he betrayed everyone god and mortal alike to team up with Dahak in the first place! You seriously are going to choose him over me?"

"Ares doesn't lie," Gabrielle said severely. Joxer's head twisted in on itself, not literally of course. But suddenly he just felt as everything had been turned inside out. Anger started burning. He never thought he could be so angry at . . . the woman he loved.

"Well, talk is useless," Ares announced. "We need to get started."

"Started?" Joxer asked, now as dull as Gabrielle had been.

"Yes, I always have had a plan. Since the last time Dahak came around, I figured out the reason he has tried to get rid of all of the gods. It seems that gods have something that Dahak can't get. Worship, adulation. For every ounce of mortal love, gods gain a lot of power. Dahak was afraid of that. This was why he targeted Hercules as well as all the Greek gods. Currently, the foolish family of mine has fled Greece. The silly fools. They have abandoned their worshipers and left it open for a new god to rule, namely me."

"People aren't going to be swayed just because the gods aren't here," Joxer argued. "The gods haven't exactly shown their faces around their temples regularly in the first place."

"No, devotion does run deep. That is why Gabrielle has agreed to use some . . . force. Enough deaths in front of them, they will turn their fear to a new god. Ares' name will ring out through every temple. I will be king of the gods, oh, and queen, prince, and every other title my silly family has made. What do you think? Good idea, right?"

It was brilliant . . . except . . . . "Gabrielle, you aren't going to . . . become his warrior? You can't be thinking of doing what Ares wanted Xena to do, the very thing Xena fought against all her life!"

Gabrielle's emerald eyes were cold. The woman he knew wasn't in there. "I will get Veln out of that body. Xena and I are soulmates. We were never supposed to be separated—at least not like this. If Xena had been redeemed, killed in a righteous battle where her death meant something, then maybe . . . but I will get her back."

"Gabrielle!"

"Joxer!" Gabrielle spit right back. "Xena fought through so many things to save me, time and again. She has lost her arms, lost her child and lost her sanity. The time she spent with me has made her life worse, not better! I betrayed her so many times . . . I will not abandon her to a dark god stealing her body, her freedom, her chance at redemption. No, Joxer, you don't get a vote in this. Ares, I think I need some training. This peace way has dulled my senses."

And with that Ares and Gabrielle disappeared, leaving Joxer alone—with his heart in pieces all over the ground.


	41. Chapter 41

Chapter Forty One

Joxer wasn't doing anything at all. He couldn't seem to function even to lift one finger. He had stumbled on his journey down this road and ended up with his back against a tree. He had no reason to get back up, none.

He had been trailing Gabrielle for the last two months, hoping she wouldn't go as bad as he feared—as bad as Ares always wanted. It was worse . . . Gabrielle must have gone completely bonkers. It seemed that Xena was Gabrielle's center, what she wanted to be good for, why Gabrielle always wanted to be a peacemaker. Way back when, Joxer knew that Gabrielle had wanted to be a warrior. At a certain point that changed. Joxer always wondered why someone who had pestered Xena to teach her the sword had done a complete turn around and had become a peacemaker, following Eli's way of peace.

Now it made complete sense. Gabrielle knew the Way of the Warrior was covered by Xena. To be the perfect partner to the greatness of Xena, she decided that a warrior wasn't needed in this world. To save the world, but more to save Xena, to help in whatever way she could to redeem her best friend, Gabrielle had to become the peacemaker. But . . . if Xena's chance at redemption was stolen away, Gabrielle's Way was to do anything she could to put Xena back on the path of redemption, even if it meant murder.

And Gabrielle . . . was good at it. To get the gods' temples as his own, Ares had put Gabrielle up as his ultimate warrior. She would come in, demand the people to follow Ares. If they acquiesced, she would move on, if not . . . her army would ransack the place and force everyone to follow Ares. One by one a villager would either be worshipping Ares or . . . dead.

To Joxer, his world was now upside down. First, Xena was no longer his friend. He couldn't talk to her at all. She was still possessed by Veln. A war was brewing across Greece, split right down the middle. Gabrielle's armies were on one side, and Dahak's were on the other, both gathering territories. Both wanted ultimate victory.

And Joxer . . . couldn't do anything. He couldn't, _wouldn't_ fight against Gabrielle. All he could do was be . . . _here_. Stunned, shocked, and out of his mind. What was left when the two people he cared about the most had either been turned into a dark force or driven mad? What good was his strength? His speed? The god blood in his veins?

Maybe it'd be a bit nicer if there was some kind of allies around. But . . . he hadn't seen Callisto since he had left her. With everything else going wrong, what else could he expect except that she had died? Hercules definitely had . . . On return to Greece, he was caught up in this war. Xena had . . . well, Veln had . . . deceived and destroyed him.

Joxer remained plastered against the tree. Maybe he should just wait here. Any minute now someone from either Dahak's army or Gabrielle's army would come up this very road. It'd be so easy to let them slit his throat. To end his life and that curse . . . to let it all go. He wondered if he would go to Tartarus or where gods went when they died.

Suddenly his super hearing took in a rage filled cry of a mob of people en masse. Ah . . . they were coming. He closed his eyes and placed both hands on either side of himself as if in supplication and waited.

Death would be a relief.

"Now, this is a sight!" a familiar voice said, and his eyes snapped open. Callisto stood in front of him, shaking her blonde tresses. "I never thought I'd find Joxer the Mighty sitting around waiting for death when there's good to be done!"

"Callisto!" Joxer said feeling a surge of happiness. This was where his life had gone . . . it was so bad he was thrilled out of his soul to see _Callisto_. He probably did something really stupid and jumped up and drew the Warrior Queen into a tight hug, dodging the pack on her back.

"Hey!" Callisto said with a wriggle away. She was harder to hug than a cactus. "None of that now. The world isn't so bad that we need to hug."

"I don't know what world you're talking about," Joxer said, trying desperately not to allow that wet stuff behind his eyes to fall and show what a weakling he was. "Have you seen . . . Greece? There is so much destruction. The gods are all gone to another world, and I've heard that all the gods from every land are dying out. Gabrielle has gone nuts. That's just . . . bad. And Xena! An evil demon spawn wears her as his skin!"

"Yes, that's why I went to work, while you were lounging around." She took a quick look behind her. "Maybe we should be moving. The Dahak cult did _not_ like me breaking into Zeus's temple."

Right then a dozen or so men and women in red robes hurried into view. All of them were armed, which belied their priest like appearance. "Heathen!" one yelled at Callisto. "That was Dahak's temple you stole from."

She blew a kiss at him. "Actually, dearie, it was Zeus's turned Dahak's, but either way I couldn't care less."

"Get her!" he shrieked, jumping up and down in his rage.

"Run or fight?" Callisto asked and then shot a look at Joxer. "I guess run. You are so out of it, aren't you?"

"Fighting is pointless," Joxer sighed. "It never ends."

"Geez, and I thought I was a pessimist!" Callisto yelled and gave him a push as the group attacked.

"Try to run faster," she said to his side as they booked it out of there. "We have one hope left."

Joxer scoffed but listened. Callisto stumbled a bit. He realized at that point she must be exhausted. How long had she been running? And what could she have possibly stolen from Zeus's temple? A small light of hope lit inside him. If Callisto said so, there was a chance to fix this. With one swoop, he picked her up into his arms, ignoring her, "Hey!" again and then ran for all he was worth, kicking up a huge dust storm as he headed towards a safe part of the forest. The Dahak members were left far behind. He continued running right up the side of a humongous oak, which had been there since time immemorial, and didn't stop until Callisto and he were completely covered in thousands of view-obscuring leaves.

"Well, great, thanks!" Callisto said. "Way to make me feel like less of a woman! I could run. And now, what, you're exhausted aren't you?"

"A little tired," Joxer admitted. "And it doesn't make you less of a woman to accept help from a man. What's our hope?"

"Well . . . I wish I had time to explain. Suffice it to say I was once trained in an Amazon camp led by the queen Hippolyta. It was the only time I ever felt . . . whole. It was strange . . . there was an Amazon who looked exactly like Xena named Lysia. But I guess that's somewhat normal for Xena with all those lookalikes running around, but I digress. Hercules once came to the camp, and then suddenly he hadn't."

"You lost me there."

"I was undergoing an Amazon initiation ceremony where I was left in a hut of memory. I was supposed to come to terms with my loss. It was designed to show memories so I could see them, embrace them, and be cleansed. Fat lot of good it did! Anyway, it turned out I was the only one immune to the Candle of Remembrance."

"The candle that shows memories?"

"Oh, it does way more than that! See, Hercules begged his father to turn back time. Since I was in the hut, I saw the whole event. Probably because I was desperately avoiding what happened in Cirra, so it showed me current events. The queen died and Hercules asked for her life restored. In the second timeline, Hercules never showed up, and Hera abandoned the Amazons, giving them to Artemis and never killed Hippolyta."

"The life and times of the Amazons," Joxer said wryly. "What does this have to do with us?"

"The Candle of Remembrance!" she declared and rummaged in her bag. She pulled out a thick round candle.

Joxer slumped against the branch in total defeat. "You . . . wasted your time. Only Zeus could possibly imbue that candle with time travel. It's a nice plan . . . go back in time and warn . . . well, someone, maybe me, and stop Xena from being taken over. But . . . right now it will probably only show me all the pain I am trying to ignore."

"Joxer, I know I was a villain, but have _some_ faith in me. I tracked down that maggoty Zeus and he was hiding in the other world—can you believe it? Anyway, I worked my . . . charm, and he has given this candle the ability of time travel. Hind blood is useful in negotiations with gods, isn't it?"

Joxer could have hugged her again, but she wouldn't take that well.

Suddenly, the tree quaked and then . . . again!

"Come down!" Iolaus/Dahak's voice roared. "My minions told me what you did! You won't stop me!"

The tree quaked again.

"What is he doing? Punching it?" Joxer asked in disbelief.

Turned out that was exactly what Dahak/Iolaus was doing, His strength had grown, and he wanted them out of the tree.

"Go, Joxer!" Callisto said, quickly lighting the candle. Joxer grabbed it just as Callisto was shaken out of the tree. She fell. There was a sickening thud at the bottom.

"No!" Joxer yelled. "Candle, take me back! Quickly!"

Just as the tree fell, Joxer disappeared, the candle burning backwards. Callisto flew back into the tree. Joxer ran backwards. Gabrielle's armies rebuilt towns by smashing things backwards. Veln spoke in Xena's body. Then slam! He was back in the inn.

But when?


	42. Chapter 42

Chapter Forty Two

The trio just stared at the future Joxer as he told this tale. Xena was the one to break the silence. "I couldn't fight back at all? I was totally taken over? I have to say I am a little disappointed in myself."

The future Joxer just snorted. "It is good to see you without that demon inside your skin," he said, "but I do think there are more important things to be done."

"Yes, like figuring out how to stop this guy without Xena sacrificing herself like she usually tries," Gabrielle pointed out. The future Joxer didn't look her way. "Oh, come on, Joxer. That wasn't me! You can't blame me for that decision when I haven't even done it yet. Maybe I was infected or something."

Lockinus jumped to her defense. "Well, I know that the gods made soulmates, and the closest thing I've ever seen is Gabrielle and Xena, so if one soul is infected . . . it's possible."

The future Joxer nodded. "That doesn't matter right now. The question is how to stop Dahak's brother and leave Dahak himself with a bloody lip as well?"

"It's tricky," Gabrielle admitted. "According to that slimeball Iolaus/Dahak no one can kill him without dying themselves."

Xena considered this fact. She also, as quick as her Chakram flies, wondered how she could have gotten it so wrong in that future world. Sure, she had come across a lot of very bad situations, but she always knew exactly what to do before. The only time she ever failed was when . . . Suddenly Xena smiled. "You're right. We can't _kill_ him."

"Xena? You have a plan . . ." Gabrielle asked and then threw her hands up in the air. "What am I asking? You always have a plan. So, what is it this time?"

"I obviously made a mistake, and it's the one I keep making. You see, way back when in my defining moments when Cortez attacked, so many of my friends died that I took it upon myself to using fighting as a course of life. Even after I changed, I still thought of myself as a warrior. That's the mistake that I keep making that ruins my plans, any plans that failed. So this time . . . I'll try and think like you would, Gabrielle. It's not only up to me. We take on Dahak and his brother together: you, me, Joxer and Lockinus."

"Um, that . . . won't be a possibility," the future Joxer said, looking at his hands. They were flickering before his eyes. "Your decision . . . Xena, will work. My future . . . is . . ."

Then he disappeared.

"That's a good omen," Joxer said. "Or a bad one. I don't like the look of me disappearing."

"At least we know Xena's plan will work, none of that other stuff." She looked troubled and as they started walking towards the door as a team, Gabrielle whispered to Xena, "Now maybe you see why I have to try Eli's way. That future . . . is what I am afraid of."

"I know," Xena whispered back. "That's why I'm all for it. It's why I didn't like taking you form your path in the first place."

Joxer followed behind them. One of these days he'd have to tell them how good his ears really were. No amount of whispering ever was enough to stop him from overhearing.

Inside the temple, the priest waited. He knew his life would be over soon, and like all true zealots he yearned for it. His weapons stood by his feet. After all it had to be in the act of war that his life was lost. Just like Dahak, Veln needed a sacrifice of a warrior's heart. He expected Xena to be the one—and he yearned for that as well. He had seen her fight a few times. It would be a great honor to be killed by the Warrior Princess.

So, it was much to his surprise, when her blonde sidekick came in unarmed and looking as innocent as a dove. "Oh, hi. I was just wondering if you could talk to me for a while."

"Talk?" he asked with suspicion. "That's it? You're not going to kill me?"

"No, I wanted to talk about . . . someone called Eli."

Xena and Joxer waited, hiding in the rafters far up above them, as Gabrielle did what she did best. By the end, as Xena had predicted, even Dahak's priest was crying.

"I never thought there was another way for me!" he exclaimed. "You are saying each of us has a proper way of living?"

"Yes," Gabrielle said. "And I don't think sacrificing yourself is your way. You ever thought about trying to find your true way, not just end up on the end of a sword?"

"Are you trying to trick me?" he demanded, grabbing his sword and pointing it at Gabrielle. Xena reached for her chakram and Joxer his sword, but Gabrielle just showed her hands.

"If I were, I'd have to be pretty stupid. I am completely at your mercy. If you wish, you can kill me . . ."

A tense breath was held, but it ended with the priest lowering his sword.

"You . . . have made the most selfless gesture . . ."

At that moment, Iolaus walked in. "Oh! Gabrielle! What?"

"Dahak!" the priest announced, even as Ioluas hissed at him to shut up. "I have another way!" He turned to Gabrielle. "Thank you, but you're wrong. I do have only the way of sacrifice, but . . . maybe I can still do good." And with that he stuck his own sword through his gut and fell. Black ooze seeped out of the pit that had been behind the priest but had nowhere to go so it just disappeared.

"No! You ruined my priest, just like you manipulated my daughter! What is it with you anyway?" he asked, his face contorted, not looking a thing like Iolaus.

Xena and Lockinus dropped down behind him. With their arrival, and with the priest's killing of himself, all the other Dahak followers ran out screaming, "The blonde was right! We should find a new religion!"

"Dahak . . . did you want to taste the metal of my chakram?" Xena asked.

"I wouldn't dream of going up against you. I have other plans. Hercules isn't as strong as you are," and he disappeared into the floor.

"Should we be worried about Hercules?" Gabrielle asked.

"No, he is going through his own problems right now. I wouldn't appreciate me butting in if it were me," Xena said.

They paused and stared at each other. "Well," Joxer said, "I am very glad that this happened after you guys went to India."

"We won, again," Gabrielle agreed. Then she turned to Joxer. "Alright, now you and I have a lot to talk about."

"Too much," Joxer agreed, but he caught Xena's glance. Gabrielle thought she knew all the secrets now. But . . . she didn't know about Callisto. Somehow he wasn't sure how happy she'd be about _that_ development.


	43. Chapter 43

Chapter Forty Three

It had been a long time since Callisto had met up with Joxer. A really long time . . . so long she was starting to wonder if she'd ever meet up with him again. There were whispers of a Dahak cult, and people had seen Joxer as Lockinus going that way.

"You'd think he tell his new partner in arms where he was going," Callisto groused. But just as she thought that, there he was, looking for her. In a few minutes Callisto sat listening to Joxer tell about what happened with Dahak. "Wow, and I thought my life was weird."

"Yeah, it was pretty weird. Next time, however, you'll be there with us. I think Xena is really getting used to you."

Callisto shrugged. She did appreciate Xena treating her like a friend, but she didn't know how much more she could stand just hanging out with Xena. "And Gabrielle? How does she feel about me?"

"She doesn't know yet," Joxer admitted.

Well, that was a relief. Callisto felt such guilt about what she had done to Gabrielle. Even now the memory swirled through her head. She wondered why it was a little hazy. The memory should have sharply burned in her conscience. She had murdered Gabrielle's husband.

"Wanna tell me what you're thinking?" Joxer asked.

"I just wonder if there is anything I can do to make it up to Gabrielle. Before we all get chummy—before Gabrielle knows who I am, I have to do something to prove to her I'm for real. Joxer, what has Xena done to make it up to her victims?"

Joxer looked puzzled. "I thought you already knew. She is helping people. She is making sure she never lets what happened happen again. Every time she fights a warlord, she is fighting herself."

"But did any of her victims forgive her?" Callisto tried again.

"Well, you would know that better than anyone. Have you forgiven Xena?"

Callisto paused. Had she? It was strange to think, because she remembered the rage she had for Xena, but yes she had forgiven Xena. Callisto had forgiven Xena at the same time as herself. But that wasn't going to work for Gabrielle: she didn't need to forgive herself. She wasn't guilty of the crimes Callisto was.

The question remained: as long as Callisto lived could Gabrielle ever forgive her for the crimes she had committed against her? The guilt still gnawed at her brain. "What can I do to make it up to Gabrielle?"

Joxer paused. "That is unfortunately a more complicated position. To get you to forgive Xena you had to die. Twice! And Gabrielle not only hates you for Perdicus, she also hates you for, well, what you did to Xena. Do you really think her hatred only is about Perdicus? Xena lost her body, thanks to you and her good name, but Gabrielle has a bigger bone to pick with you. You ruin Xena's redemption every day. You have been a constant reminder to the world what the old Xena was. Gabrielle can't forgive you for that."

Callisto sighed. He was right. Callisto would never be able to apologize enough to make it up to Gabrielle. She had to face it: Callisto was a monster.

Suddenly, Callisto felt weak. There was something wrong . . .

"Callisto! Callisto!" Joxer yelled. It looked like he had been calling her name for a few minutes.

"What, what happened?" she asked.

"I don't know. We were talking, and suddenly you passed out. Are you okay?"

Callisto nodded. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, especially Joxer, but she had felt that weakness before—on regular occasions since she crawled out of that temple. It was getting worse. Most people would talk to a healer, but Callisto was special. She probably should talk to an oracle. She wanted to know: was she dying? For the first time in her life since Cirra burned she wanted to live, and she would fight for that chance.

"You know, Joxer, I think I would want to visit Delphi. It might be fun to see the oracle."

That startled Joxer. Yes, he on occasion liked to visit the oracle, and a trip right now would be perfect, but still he was a little worried about Callisto. She tried to assuage his fears by acting healthy. "Really, Joxer, I just got too much sun."

Joxer looked like he doubted that, but he let it go. And he would do anything to waylay the conversation he knew he would soon have to have with Gabrielle about his new travelling companion. Gabrielle wasn't stupid. She would figure something out soon.

The trip to Delphi wasn't long, as the two of them acquired a chariot, and Joxer willingly played the horse, going faster, of course. He knew how to avoid the main roads, so they didn't encounter any strangers who would gape and then most likely die seeing Joxer move that fast. Unfortunately, by the time they got there, the oracle was not taking any more visitors. Callisto was fine with that, as she didn't want to talk to the oracle with Joxer present.

They went to the inn and got some sleep. Callisto awoke early keeping quiet so that Joxer didn't hear, and she was the first in line to see the oracle. The inner temple was simple, as the oracle liked no elaborate decorations. It was a simple hall full of white billowing cloth, and on the raised dais sat the oracle, a woman by the name of Sarah, but her name was unimportant. Only the future mattered here.

Callisto kneeled in reverence at the foot of the dais and appealed to the oracle, "Help me, future teller."

"Welcome, child of the future. What answers do you seek?" The oracle spoke with her normal flair.

"Hello, Oracle, I am just . . . will I die soon?" Callisto just blurted.

"That remains to be seen. Let me just say this: your body is running out of time. Child of an alternate life, your future only lies in the Sands of the Phantoms."

Callisto wrinkled her nose. "What? Are you reading the right future? I am not from an alternate life. I am from this one."

"Wrong, you only think you are. You don't belong in this world. You exist with counted minutes," the oracle explained.

Callisto stood up now in a bit of a shocked state. She didn't belong? "What do you mean?"

"Your mind is fractured: slipping through the two realities can do that. Remember, your birth did not happen in this world's Cirra. It happened in the alternate world. When your family died by an unknown force—Xena's siege at Cirra in this world—their bodies burned as if in a fire. Your choices after that were to become a priestess. You were terrified by the unknown forces of the world. You learned about the connection between the worlds: when one dies in one world, the other dies in the other world. You had a remarkable sense of fair play, so you stole Cupid's Sands of War. By placing them in the Enduring Hourglass, you were pulled here when this world's Callisto died. The minds of the two merged, but only in memory form. That twisted your own memories of your life. You now own both Callisto's memories, but yours are buried."

Now, when the oracle mentioned her real life, Callisto felt her memories coming back. She had become a priestess for an unimportant god. When she saw that he was a cruel god, she left and became a warrior priestess, helping others and defying gods.

She had been a hero . . . but she now was remembering being a villain, too. She shook herself. This oracle also said she was dying. "How can I fix this dying thing?"

"I have already told you. You need the Sands of the Phantoms—only with that will you regain your time. The sands you stole have run out of the hourglass."

"I've never heard of the Sands of the Phantoms in either of my memories."

"It exists on a faraway island, the Island of Forgotten Failures."

Callisto swallowed. Now _that_ her memories told her about. Only one person had ever escaped from that place alive. She felt weak again. She had no choice: she would get that sand and give herself her life back. She remembered her determination she had as a warrior priestess. She could and would accomplish this. Her life depended on it, and she had escaped death too many times to give into it now. She would not pay for the crimes her self from this world had done.


	44. Chapter 44

Chapter Forty Four

Callisto found Joxer at the tavern. He looked annoyed.

"What is it, Joxer?"

"There was too long of line. I never got in to see the Oracle."

Callisto chuckled. As ferocious as Joxer was, he still was the Mighty. Then she turned serious. "Joxer, I have to leave. I'll be back, but I have to go to the Island of Forgotten Failures."

Joxer's jaw dropped. "What? Why? What could you possibly need there?"

Callisto sighed. "Time. I am running out of time. The Sands of the Phantoms will give me more."

Joxer couldn't have looked more shocked by this information. "You're dying?"

"More like on a limited amount of time. When Xena stabbed me, I . . . Callisto died. The alternate reality me should have, too. She, I, didn't. But I'm not supposed to live if she dies."

"Wait, you aren't the Callisto I know?"

"No, but yes. I have all her memories and feelings."

Joxer shook his head. "No, you have more. She never felt guilty for what she did. It relieves me to know that . . . you aren't really the woman who killed Gabrielle's husband, poisoned wells, stole Xena's body, tried to get Xena to kill Argo—"

"Enough, Joxer!"

"Okay, still it's nice to know. So . . ." He started walking out the front door of the tavern. "If you don't get those sands then you'll just . . . poof, disappear. But there has to be another way than going to that island."

"The only other way I have heard of somebody living after their alternate has died was transformation. I think that Iolaus had the same problem and the only reason he didn't show those signs is that he became a mermaid . . . um, Mer-man? Anyway, I don't want to go roaming the seas to see if those stupid fishes will help me. There is no way I'll do that. The Sands are my only chance."

"But almost everybody who goes there dies."

Callisto shrugged. "I will be fine. Even if not, I'm not exactly looking at a full life without it." Callisto impulsively gave Joxer a hug. "Thanks. No one has ever been this nice to me."

Then she released him, and he fell to the floor . . . Callisto's neckhold wasn't exactly Xena's pinch but it did nicely in a . . . well, pinch. There was no reason to have him risk his life for her. Even a son of Ares wasn't welcome on that island. This was up to her.

Callisto soon found out though that the island was not the hard thing to find. Many sailors knew exactly where it was. The hard thing was finding one crazy enough to go. She had been turned down dozens of times already. Callisto approached a set of sailors in the third town she visited. They were busy throwing new gear on a ship that had a prominent crown displayed on green sails.

"Hey, you there! Where's your captain?"

One of the sailors gestured to a door on the rather decorated boat. She heard one of the sailors say as she passed, "Ain't that Callisto?"

"Yep, the poor captain. I think he's a goner."

Callisto hid a smile and knocked on the door also displayed with that ridiculous motif of the crown. "Come," said a voice from behind the door. She entered to see a captain's cabin full to the brim of jewels.

"I was looking for a brave captain to help me. The others were too afraid to take me up on my offer," Callisto said to the back of who she supposed to be the captain. He was too busy polishing his jewels to pay much attention to his interloper. He was currently sitting in his chair, oblivious to anyone who came in. All she could see was that he was tall and dressed in a green billowy vest. When he turned to look at her, she saw a jaunty mustache over smiling lips. She supposed he was good looking, but the unfortunate thing was that he knew it.

"The name's Autolycus. And if you knew how hard it was to pay more attention to you than these gems than you wouldn't bother me. Still . . . a beauty like you needs all my attention. I own this boat."

Callisto scoffed. "You? You're the king of thieves not a boat captain."

"So you've heard of me!" Autolycus exclaimed.

"Yes, you're a thief."

"No, no, no, not anymore. It doesn't pay with Xena and Hercules always giving me grief. My last job ended badly. Good old Herc threw me on the mercy of the courts and the last magistrate was a joker. He sent me to earn an honest living. After he gave me this boat, and this scurvy crew, he revealed himself to be the God of Justice—and I think Herc knew it! How is this justice? Now I have no choice but to be a captain." Autolycus sighed dramatically.

Callisto just smiled. He was perfect. Arrogant, wronged, and just a bit insane. He'd get her to that island. And she had no guilt at all if he met his demise on that island. It would be his own arrogance if he followed her, not like Joxer's sense of chivalry or Xena's atonement. "Okay, so destination. I'll bet you've heard of the Island of Forgotten Failures. Well, I want you to take me there."

Autolycus gaped but quickly pulled himself together. "You _want_ to go there? But only people who want to end up dead go there."

Callisto narrowed her eyes. "Will you or won't you?"

Autolycus jumped up. "Yes, I will. I bet there's a lot of treasure there. If I can't hone my skills stealing, I'll try something else. Let's get going. Oh, and what's your name anyway?"

"Nothing if I can't get to this island. I'll take the crow's nest." And with that the boat set sail. Within minutes the fine prow was plying the waters towards the Island of Forgotten Failures.

Callisto's minutes ticked down.


	45. Chapter 45

Chapter Forty Five

Autolycus had a good crew. In no time at all, the wind was whipping the sails northward. It was only a few days before the island was on the horizon. Callisto kept to herself during that time.

"Hey, lady," Autolycus said once he spotted the island and Callisto was getting ready for this new task. "You never told me why you're coming to this cursed place."

"And I will keep my own counsel. You should do the same," Callisto said and ignored him.

Soon enough the island grew tall over the boat. "I'm sorry lady, but this is as close as we can get. That place will destroy anyone who steps foot there and any ship foolish enough to dock at her shores."

"That though is exactly what I intend to do. There's no reason for this ship to risk herself, though. Wait here for three days. If I don't return, go ahead and leave. The money I gave you already is fair." Callisto quickly jumped off the boat and started swimming. She thought it obvious that she was a woman who didn't need any help, but she still heard a splash a few minutes after she jumped in.

She didn't bother to check and see who had joined her; she had to get to land. She swam for a few minutes against the current. It wasn't easy, but she was still Callisto, just maybe not the evil warrior queen.

Soon she was almost to shore. The sand scattered across the beach she crawled on to was black as night. Callisto shook her head and pushed herself to walking hearing echoing footsteps. She cursed inwardly. It figured the thief probably had come with her. Before she could turn around and order him home, she put her foot on some new sand which was as white as a baby eagle's down. She felt weird, as a hot fiery surge went through her. There was something wrong with this place.

The trees grew at odd angles. The sky looked almost like there was a perpetual storm cloud overhead. Callisto raised her arm and gasped. Her muscles were gone! She reached for her sword by pure instinct . . . only to find air.

She was defenseless. What was she to do? She had to find that sand! There was no way she could do as her mind was begging which was to flee this godsawful island and get back her muscles and sword. She couldn't leave here empty-handed. A splashing behind her reminded that she had company. Autolycus was splashing along the water. "You can't expect me to let you come into this place alone," he defended when he saw the glare she had—which was _not_ for him but for this new predicament. But the king of thieves took it personally. "I will help you find what you're looking for." He then gave her a weird glance. "Wait, what happened to your armor? Why are you suddenly wearing peasant clothes?"

Callisto looked down. Yep, she was wearing flimsy cloth with absolutely no chain mail sewn in. "It's this island. You are allowed no defense on it."

With a frown, Autolycus just looked down at himself. "Nice, flimsy with a taste of ugly peasant. I haven't worn this kind of outfit in years." He started sneering at the rest of his new threads.

"Leave your arrogance behind. We have to find the Sand of the Phantoms."

"Oh! I searched for that when I was still allowed to be myself. I heard it was in a cursed place. Where you revert back to your . . . essential self. Oh, great! We are both peasants. Hey," he yelled to the island, "I'm a king." Nothing happened.

"I don't think self-proclaimed royalty counts," Callisto said shaking her head but started looking around the beach.

"Um, what are you doing?" Autolycus asked.

"Trying to find out if the sands on the beach are the ones I need."

"I _don't_ think it's that easy."

"Well, I don't either, but I won't be going into that forest if the stinking thing I need is right here." After a few minutes Callisto had exhausted her search of the beach.

"Now that that is over, do you want to go into the trees?" Autolycus asked.

Callisto nodded and picked up a branch and started sharpening it with a rock. To Autolycus' questioning look, she said, "I may not have my sword, but I won't go in there defenseless."

He nodded, and they walked into the woods. All sound from the beach stopped. The sounds of the woodland creatures started. The sun only came down in small rays. Everything else was dark and in shadow. Callisto stood and listened to the forest. "We should go that way," she said, pointing. Autolycus had no choice but to listen.

After walking for a few minutes, Callisto stopped again and listened. She turned right and walked again, as if she were searching for something . . . and she was. There had to be a guardian of this place. The gods wouldn't do any differently and after that labyrinth . . . she would be ready.

Presently a large noise could be heard. It sounded like a large creature ripping up trees. Callisto could tell Autolycus was hoping it wouldn't see or hear them, but Callisto knew that to defeat this place, to gain the sands she needed, she would have to destroy this thing. Again Callisto stopped and listened. "That way."

"But that puts us closer to that large noise."

"Oh, good you heard it too."

"Yeah, which is why I want to turn the other direction and run."

"And the instant we stop hunting it, it hunts us."

Autolycus' jaw dropped. "You are _hunting_ that thing that is making so much noise?"

"Who would know this island better than a creature living on it?"

Autolycus just stood there. It looked like he was waiting for Callisto to say, "Just kidding." When she didn't, he said, "And what if the only information it has is it's hungry?"

"Autolycus, I never told you my name, did I?"

"No."

"I'm Callisto."

That made Autolycus gape.

"Now we can work together or you can worry about two dangerous beasts out there hunting you." She smiled.

Braver men than Autolycus have quailed under that smile, so he quickly agreed to help. "Okay, so which way now?"

She listened and tiptoed to a stand of trees and climbed up one. "That is the creature we need to take down." The creature was a very large cyclops except it had three heads. Its arms were like brick walls. The noise it had been making was from it ripping up trees, presumably to make weapons.

That thing could easily take both of them up in one bite—of course it would become three, one for each head. "I think I prefer giant snakes," Autolycus whispered as both perched on the branches looking at what could be their demises.


	46. Chapter 46

Chapter Forty Six

The big monster that Callisto had lovingly named Triclops, clopped around looking for a meal or . . . ten. "So, do you want me to ask him what he knows or do you want to?" Autolycus asked. He was trying to debate on which was the more fearsome creature here: the giant or the warrior queen. Still, though, he wasn't exactly afraid of Callisto . . . mostly. He could tell, despite everything he had heard about, that the Callisto crouching next to him was a good person.

Callisto gave a grin. "No, we don't have to ask him anything. Did you see what he is guarding?"

Autolycus hadn't looked. There were too many ugly heads in the way of his vision. But right behind the three headed cyclops was a gigantic mountain stuck in all the leaves of the trees and squashed by the trunks. There was an ornately carved door built into the wall with many symbols all over it. "Well, I know what that is. I've robbed enough gods to recognize a door of theirs." He rubbed his hands together. He had the scent of a wonderful treasure that he definitely wanted to steal. "So, what's the plan? I want to see what's on the other side of that door," Autolycus said.

"First, let's observe this guy. We can figure out how he moves, see if he has any Achilles' heels, as it were."

Autolycus nodded. "I agree. I'm certainly not eager to knock on Mr. Big's door."

The Triclops walked around fighting imaginary enemies. He _really_ liked that tree as a weapon. But after a few rounds of fighting imaginary enemies, Callisto and Autolycus got very lucky as one of the heads started to droop. It was followed by another head and soon they were both snoring, raucous sounds swinging the trees.

Unfortunately the third head was very alert. Callisto pursed her lips. "I don't see any weaknesses. And if it feels safe enough to have two of its heads fall asleep, I'd say it doesn't have any."

"So, what next? Kill it?"

"I don't kill if I don't have to," Callisto shot back.

"Then you aren't the Callisto I've heard about."

"It's a long story. Look, we have to move on to plan Beta. We have to get that third head asleep."

"We could try arguing with it until the sun comes up," Autolycus suggested

"That only works for trolls!"

"The only other idea is to tell that thing one of Hercules quote unquote funny stories. That _always_ puts me out."

Callisto didn't even dignify that with a response. But after a half an hour, the Triclops' third head didn't even look tired. There had to be something to do here. She looked around the ground. A sharp stick met her gaze. If she still had her skills she'd be able to blind that giant nuisance—at least one of its eyes—but as the situation stood . . .

"A million dinars for your thoughts," Autolycus said charmingly.

"I'll take it. I want it delivered to my cave east of Athens."

Autolycus paled. "Please tell me you're kidding. I have debts! I can't be the King of Thieves or even the former without loads of dinars!"

"Breathe, Auto. I have access to more than that."

" _Really_? And, um, where is that exactly?"

"Once a thief," Callisto muttered. "Look, I don't think we can wait for that thing to fall asleep. We have limited time, and we can't fight it. I'm at a quandary."

"You know . . . your muscles are gone. Your armor's gone. But I don't think _Callisto_ is gone. I bet you have many skills."

"That's Xena! Still . . ." She figured why not give it a shot. She picked up a stick and aimed. Autolycus was right! She was still herself! Yes, she may not have her muscles, but she had her aim. She threw as hard as she could. The stick stuck straight into the Triclops' third eye.

As it staggered—the other heads still fast asleep—Callisto saw their chance. "Run, Autolycus. His thrashing about will wake the other heads in a few seconds, but we have some time." With that they both hightailed down the tree and across the field right under the Triclops' knees.

"Should we speak friend and enter?" Autolycus asked.

"Would you get off that scroll: the Lord of the . . . whatever it was. Bracelets? Necklaces? Rings? Anyway, yes, it's very entertaining, but useless here!"

"It's a true story!" Autolycus insisted. "It happened around north of here, you know."

Callisto had it! Strength or no, that door was going down! With a mighty kick, she sent the door smashing inside the mountain, and the two ran inside before the Triclops could see them. The door led into a long tunnel. It wasn't dark thanks to the roof—it had been given a gift of sky, so it looked like the outside. It made the area way less claustrophobic. The clouds and beams of sunlight filtered through.

"You know, if we could get rid of that beast, this could be a _great_ tourist destination. Think about it! Only your wits on a barren island—rooms under the sky inside a mountain! Yes, I could see the possibilities," Autolycus said happily. "And best of all no thievery . . . oh, except for the overpriced admission fees."

"You sound like Salmoneus," Callisto muttered.

"Oh, ew! Just chop my head off right now!"

"No time. We have to find those sands," Callisto said.

"Hey, Callisto, can I ask you something?"

"No, I will not be your exhibit on your island of horror."

"That's not exactly the question I had in mind."

"Okay, go ahead."

"Why do you want these sands?"

"No reason."

"Well, I don't think they are much use as a weapon."

Callisto sighed. "I don't want a weapon. I need them to restore my life. I'm . . . dying."

"Good. Then I'll help." Autolycus started patting the walls and continued with the floor.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking for traps. That guy out there was much too easy to be the only defense. He was the first defense." Then he said, "Aha! There on the floor. It's a pressure plate. Neither of us need to step on it."

Callisto, remembering her fake memories, thought of her trip through the labyrinth with Hercules. The way to go had been through a trap. She never would have made it to the tree if she hadn't tripped those living vines. Purposely, she stepped right on the pressure plate. A large grating noise was heard. Both fell to the floor as arrows shot through the corridor.

"Why did you do that?" Autolycus moaned.

"Because I bet the sands will be through that grate that just opened."

"Maybe, but the grate that opened most likely holds some kind of monster maybe this time with _nine_ heads."

A large roar shook the tunnel.

"Oh, I hate it when I'm right!" Autolycus cried.

Callisto walked forward and the tunnel abruptly ended. A large cavern like room opened up in front of them, still showing the sky, which was now full of clouds. There was no sunlight. Autolycus was, like he said, right. There was a monster in here, a particularly nasty one, but Callisto was right as well. In a glowing corner on top of a dais was a gigantic hourglass filled to bursting with golden glowing sand, which spilled out through a tiny hole at the bottom. Callisto heart soared. This was it!

More time!

A life! A fresh start.

All she had to do was defeat without muscles or killing.

Defeat a . . . piece of armor.

Yes, because the thing that was roaring, the last defense against thieves of the sands was a suit of armor, complete with helmet, sword, greaves and boots, but no human—in fact nothing inside except air. Nothing to injure or stymie.

"I really like this place," Autolycus grunted. "Remind me to come back when I want to die if that day is not today."


	47. Chapter 47

_Author's Note: Sorry for the very big delay in this chapter. Hopefully, you all still want to read this!_

Chapter Forty Seven

Callisto and Autolycus ducked, dodged, and in a lot of other ways got out of the way of the living armor. With no wounds to inflict or body parts to hack off, they were in a bit of a quandary of what to do. The two of them were slowly but surely being backed into the cave wall.

But Callisto wasn't too concerned. After all, Callisto had the memories of the most fearsome warrior queen that had ever graced the world. With a mighty scream, she flipped against the wall and jumped over the head of the approaching armor. Every muscle screamed out in agony, wasted as it was from the magic of this island. But did Callisto care about pain? In a sense, no. Maybe if she were the other Callisto. Pain had crippled her counterpart, but as a priestess pain was a part of life. Many meditation exercises had been spent avoiding letting the pain drive her to her knees. This time was no different.

And, no, she wasn't doing this randomly. And, yes, she did have a plan. She had spotted a rock across the way that would make great flint.

And even if she wasn't this reality's Callisto, she still oh so loved fire.

With only two moves, she had the rock in her hand, struck it against the cave wall, and caught some dried grass that stuck out of the ground, having starved and died from lack of light and water. Callisto didn't know why—maybe it was just her way with fire—but the place burst into burning and cheerful flame. It crinkled the air and made Autolycus cough. But it utterly destroyed the very flammable suit of armor, and it crumpled to the ground leaving Autolycus looking stunned. The flames quickly died away.

"Fire!" he announced, pointing with fervor to the still smoldering ash.

"It's the ultimate equalizer," she admitted.

"And the harshest mistress mankind has ever tried to tame," Autolycus pointed out. "How did you . . .?" He shook his head. "Well, I don't really care that much. Never look a gift Pegasus in the mouth, I always say."

"You always say that?" Callisto asked incredulously.

"Words, words, you are obsessed with words! At any rate, you do realize you just burned your sands into glass, right?"

"No way!" Callisto crowed and approached the now blackened dais. Shining through the smoke was gold. Callisto grabbed it not exactly knowing what would happen. Suddenly the hourglass burst and all the sand exploded into the air. Like a sudden rainstorm, the sand fell down in golden shimmers, attaching to every part of Callisto's body. Energy flowed into her. As it attached, her outfit changed. Suddenly she was in armor, not the black stuff she had always worn before but pure white chainmail. Much like her counterpart's snakes and little circles of leather, this one was, but instead of snakes the skirt held a roaring bear's head stretched out in platinum metal. Each circle was white but etched with faint silver script that read, "To the one who conquers her heart, there is nothing left to conquer at all."

Her muscles slipped back into firm and sculpted. Her abdomen became as taut and fit as it had been before. She looked over to Autolycus who had also received the blessing from the sands. His muscles had returned to their former glory, and he wore a much better outfit than before. Whether or not he had gotten more time was unknown, but he certainly looked dapper. An all-white tunic covered a silver long sleeved shirt. His didn't bear any inscriptions. "Well, you look amazing," he said.

"You too, thief."

"We just risked life and limb together. Can't you call me king?"

"You're a captain," she teased.

"Not anymore," he mused. "The sands have given me the greatest gift of all. They've made me lose all debts! I can be a thief again! But not just any thief—the king of thieves lives again."

Callisto shook her head. Of all the things to desire to be, a thief certainly wasn't the noblest of professions. Still, everyone had their own path in life. It was nice to know she had her own to find again, with no borrowed time or other Callisto ruining her chances.

"So, can we get out of here? My ship is waiting. I think I'll take it and sell it for parts."

Callisto laughed and both returned to the shore. Nothing hindered their movement. As they swam back to the ship, the island shimmered and became transparent. The island of sands would wait for a new seeker.

The ship shot across the blue water. The sun struck the deck like an angry god. Callisto perched on the deck waiting impatiently for the end of this journey. But she had a lot of time to reflect. What was she going to do now? There was no need for Joxer and her to continue their secret lives. Joxer's mystery had ended thanks to body switching for Xena and Gabrielle, and he could handle the rest, and now hers would. Did she have any reason to stay around these people? The evil warrior queen she may not be, but she wasn't exactly friends with any of these people in her reality. Xena had been nothing more than the sovereign's ally. There had only been one time either had even met, and that was when Callisto had come to beg the Sovereign to end his evil ways.

It hadn't gone well, and it had only been by her own agility and quick thinking that Sovereign hadn't attempted to add her to his wall of disgusting body parts. Gabrielle had been a damaged and deranged executioner, more obsessed with death than with life. And Joxer was a freedom fighter who hadn't any use for a priestess.

Did she have a place here? The smart thing would be to return to her reality and become a force for good. Still . . . she had just battled back from the brink of death. And darn it! She liked these people better! Was it selfish for her to stay and help out Xena and Gabrielle, help Joxer against his father's stupidity?

Yes, it was totally selfish especially if the Sovereign still ruled. With her new skills, he'd be easy prey, and so much fun to smack around.

Yes, it would be selfish to stay here.

But that's precisely what Callisto was going to do. She leaned back and let the sun tickle her skin.


	48. Chapter 48

Chapter Forty-Eight

The tavern was quiet, as any newcomers came in, looked at the four people sitting smack dab in the middle and then found an excuse, any excuse to head right back through the doors they had just entered through. It wasn't every day that one saw Xena and Callisto in the same room, both of them fully dressed in armor, and the world didn't end seconds after one of their fights.

If any came in and asked questions, they'd realize that this was the most congenial meeting the two could ever have, considering Xena just found out that this Callisto was not the villain she had grown to know and hate.

"So, all you had were her memories?" Xena asked.

"That's it. I am from the alternate reality where, well, I hate you as much as you hate me here. The crimes you had done . . . And as far as Gabrielle goes," Callisto said appealing to the so far silent blonde. "The executioner caused me so many problems."

"Yeah . . . I just am so . . . AGGRAVATED! I'm the last to know about any of this. What is it about me? You guys always know everything!"

"Now, now," Xena soothed. "You knew about lots of things first. Your scrolls just seem to miss any of your adventures, you're so obsessed with mine. The truth is, you'd be the hero here if you were a little taller."

Mollified, Gabrielle looked at Callisto. "A warrior priestess . . . Well, don't expect me to hate you just because you look like someone I hate. As I've told you before, Joxer's brother is an assassin; Xena has that annoying Meg, and I have Hope which wasn't easy on Xena at all. I guess, welcome to the team." She paused, a glimmer of light flashing in her eyes. "Just think we're all on the same team! This is really interesting and makes a great story."

"No, a pretty boring one," Callisto argued. "Xena always wins the day. What interesting plot development is there in that?"

"It's not just that she saves the day!" Gabrielle defended. "It's _how_ she saves the day. Like the death vision she had . . . how are we going to prevent that?"

Everyone looked uncomfortable at that. Gabrielle was the only one here who thought there was a defense against the death looming on the horizon. Joxer knew that death visions were hard to avoid, and Callisto as a priestess had told quite a few futures which could never be avoided.

Gabrielle groaned and smacked the closest shoulders she could reach: Xena's and Joxer's. "You are all such pessimists."

"No, wait," Xena said with a sudden grin. "I didn't see Callisto in my vision—at least I don't think I saw Callisto. But well there was that feeling—oh never mind. The point is that Callisto wasn't there. Joxer wasn't there."

"Oh! So you think it's already been averted?" Gabrielle asked.

"No! It can't be as long as we're together, but if you stay with Joxer and Callisto, problem solved."

Gabrielle hit her shoulder again.

"Peace way, Gabrielle, you're supposed to be on the peace way."

"I hate this, Xena. You keep on trying to avoid this so called death vision, but it's not working together. Oh no! You are fighting it by trying to ditch me, all the time. That's it. It stops here and now."

Callisto and Joxer shared a look, wishing they could sidle out of here without them noticing. This conversation always led to a fight.

"It can't stop here and now, Gabrielle," Xena responded, but there was an edge to her voice. "Alti showed me this future, and she knows it was your real death—not a knock against your noggin where me smacking you around brought you back No, your real death. Not the day repeating."

"The what?" Gabrielle demanded.

"Never mind. And not a fall into a pit where you're miraculously saved by Callisto from the other reality. No, over, ended, done. No more Gabrielle."

"No more Xena either," Gabrielle reminded and reached out to clutch Xena's hand. "This means your real death, too. I won't let that happen. If we die, we die together."

Xena's eyes swam with emotion, making Joxer and Callisto even more uncomfortable. "Okay, so it's decided," Joxer announced. "No one leaves anyone. The death vision will not happen."

"I agr—," Xena started, but before she could continue, someone dismissed the two warriors that everyone else was afraid of and ran right up to Xena. He wore the garb of a Roman peasant, a short sleeved tunic with an official looking toga over it.

"Xena! Xena! We need your help!"

"What?" Xena demanded. "Why?"

"Caesar has enacted a new constitution. It allows the end of the armed conflict in the provinces of Rome. He has already sent a militia out to eradicate the people. But we are just simple villagers who have earned his wrath by supporting Pompey. We know of your enmity with Caesar. If you can't help us, we'll be wiped out. Please . . ."

"I . . ." Xena was silent, casting a dour gaze towards Gabrielle. "Romans . . ."

"Was it snowing?" Gabrielle demanded.

"Of course not. It's way too early in the year for that," the man replied.

"See, Xena, we have to help. Anything Caesar wants can't be for a good cause."

"No. Pompey and Caesar's battles seem to be coming to a head. But that isn't really our problem."

"Xena, that's the most dishonorable thing I've ever heard." Gabrielle's face was ashen. "Your fear can't stop you from helping people."

Xena was about to respond when she saw Gabrielle's face. Her entire countenance softened. "Alright . . . alright. I'll help," she added towards the man. "Give us a day and we'll meet you in the provinces."

"Thank you!" and he was gone as quick as he had come.

"A day?" Gabrielle asked.

"Rome is far, Gabrielle. We need to make sure we have the proper supplies. I know you love haggling and shopping, so could you go and gather our supplies? We need a good night's rest, and I want a room without fleas this time, so I'll see what the tavern keeper has."

Gabrielle smiled and ran off, eager to help.

"And us?" Callisto asked.

"I need the two of you to help Gabrielle. The last time I can remember her shopping was when she still could fight, and she still was kidnapped and almost forced to marry a dead king. So, would you?"

"Sure thing, Xena. Then we'll go to Rome," Callisto said with a smile. "I always wanted to see Rome." The two walked off following Gabrielle's path.

Xena gritted her teeth together. The lies to Gabrielle had to stop . . . Hopefully, the stinking future that Alti promised would either happen soon or be ruined, but either way Xena would keep Gabrielle out of it. With a toss of her long, black locks, she jumped up and ran towards the stables where Argo was kept.

"Argo, we'll need to ride hard, and we'll need to get on a boat. You up for some sea travel?"

Argo whickered. Xena knew her moods. She was excited to get out of this stable, even if she had to clomp around on a boat for a while. Xena saddled her faster than she ever had and rode.

This day she rode towards Rome. Whether it would solve the vision or continue it she didn't know, but she would be damned if Gabrielle was lying on that cross next to her. Xena had already survived one crucifixion; even though it hadn't been in the traditional Roman style, it had been bad enough. How could she wish Gabrielle to share her fate? Xena had already learned a long time ago her end would be a painful one. She wouldn't force that on Gabrielle, especially when she was in this most vulnerable state.

Gabrielle's death would be a peaceful one many years from now. Xena had already resigned herself to a painful, bloody and horrible one. Now she rode towards it.


	49. Chapter 49

Chapter 49

Gabrielle was irrevocably, totally, and in an insane way angry at her best friend and Warrior Princess. She sat in a humongous field of wildflowers with blades of green grass sticking up in between all the yellows and purples under a blue sky. There was an almost maniacal expression on her face as she did her yoga practically screaming, "IN with Love. OUT with HATE!"

"Um, Gabby," Joxer said. He and Callisto were a bit miffed as well. No one likes being left behind, and Xena had fooled all of them, even though as Callisto said, "We should have known!" But Joxer and Callisto couldn't even come close to the same measure of rage that Gabrielle owned now.

"Leave me alone, Joxer! She did it AGAIN! OUT, OUT, out with HATE!"

"She just wanted to protect you," Callisto quickly mentioned. She would do anything to defend Xena. It helped her keep those memories of the other Callisto at bay.

"Yes, and what happens if that blasted vision happens with only her on that cross? I can't believe . . . I told her . . . She just . . ."

"Come on, finish your sentence," Joxer encouraged.

"No!"

"You won't finish your sentence?"

"No, I won't sit around and wait for her this time."

"Um, Gabby. We could go after her."

Gabrielle rolled her eyes and succeeded in letting out a few more "OUTS" and then sighed and stood up. "No, Joxer. You know Xena. She took Argo. She always knows the fastest way. If we go after her, she'll either be done or dead by the time we get there. I won't run after her this time."

"But you've got to!" Callisto said, horrified. "She's like . . . wait, what is she to you?"

Gabrielle just gave Callisto a look.

"Well, anyway, the two of you share something quite extraordinary. You are like two peas in a pod. Even in the other reality, nothing could break the two of you apart. And you're going to let this? You know Xena! If she thinks something is best, she does it. It may be annoying, but aren't you used to her by now? And this could mean her death!"

"No," Gabrielle said with determination in her eyes. "I won't believe that. I can't. What I _will_ believe is that Xena will come back, give me that endearing expression she always gives and expect everything to be back to normal. Well, no! If she wants me back this time, she will have to promise me that she won't do this again and mean it this time! Until then I'll . . . I'll . . ."

"You'll . . .?"

"I will go home. My sister has her own place in Potidaea now. She's been writing every other week, exhausting the messengers begging me to come take a look at it and give her some help against my mom who doesn't like both her daughters being on their own. At least I'm respectable having a career and such, but Lila doesn't have even that. Nor does she have a husband. She could use my moral support, and I'll be there."

"Um, travelling with Xena is a career?" Joxer asked doubtfully.

"Quiet! I'll be at Lila's. If you happen to see Xena, let her know."

Then she walked off, leaving a swath in the green, yellow, and purple.

"This can't be good," Callisto noted. "Something's wrong in paradise."

"That happens when someone is stubborn," Joxer pointed out. "Xena is being silly. Gabrielle could get killed any day. If it's fated to happen, nothing Xena will do will stop it. The best bet would be to stay together as long as possible. No one really knows when they'll lose something, so appreciate it while you've got it!"

"Thank you for that," Callisto responded. She watched as Gabrielle's figure grew smaller and smaller. "You know, that peace way she's on . . . There's a whole lot of mean thugs from here to Potidaea. Maybe I should walk along with her until Xena returns. Just in case you're right about fate."

"But what about Xena? She's on her own with Romans!"

"Well, I'm sure _you_ could catch up to her with your fast feet. How about you give Xena back-up, and I'll play bodyguard?"

"But what about the deeper issue? I think Gabrielle means it. She won't just wait around for Xena."

Callisto smirked. "Yeah, sure. If Xena comes back, Gabrielle will follow her. I'm sure of that."

"I'm not. I've never seen her so angry. It's the peace way I think. Not being allowed to fight and get her aggressions out has made her bottle it all up. I shudder to think of what will happen to the poor souls nearby when she loses her peace way. Look, Callisto, could you just talk to Gabrielle? Get her to understand that heroes have reasons for keeping sidekicks out of things. I understand Xena's reasons. Why can't Gabrielle?"

"Maybe Gabrielle didn't like being lied to," Callisto pointed out. "Still, I kind of understand Xena as well, which scares me to no end. Anyway, I'll see if I can talk some sense into Gabrielle. Why don't you do the same for Xena? She has to understand that sidekicks don't like being left out of things. And if she continues this, she might tear a hole in their relationship that can't be mended."

"Alright! We have our missions. You sure you don't want to go convince Xena and I will play bodyguard to Gabrielle?"

"Two problems with that. One being that you are known as the Mighty still and can't really help her unless you're Lockinus, and you hate that mask. And two, you'll just say to Gabrielle, 'You know, Xena's right,' and frankly I think Gabrielle will lose her peace way right then and there and you'll be that poor soul!"

"Fine, my brain's not working. But knowing Xena she might kill me too."

"Well, it looks like you're doomed then Joxer," Callisto said cheerily. "Good luck." Both paused and then nodded at each other. Callisto hurried to follow Gabrielle and Joxer followed the land towards Rome, running right over the water. Xena may have taken the fastest route, but with his speed there was a lot of ground and water he could cover to find her and hopefully help her prevent that vision from coming true.

What he didn't want to tell anyone was that he had started having bad dreams recently. Always the same . . . Xena and Gabrielle lying dead on a table nearby while he wept. Fate sure did seem to have a nasty death in mind for his two friends. And he didn't know if it was possible to prevent it.


	50. Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Finding Xena was usually a piece of cake. One would generally just have to follow the line of unconscious bodies she left behind her. As Joxer rushed along with his feet speeding along the Roman dry countryside, he couldn't see any of those telltale bodies. In a few minutes he had run right through Rome and into its surrounding waters and had to retrace his steps.

He finally found the famed and scary Warrior Princess sitting under a tree and staring off into space. He had run right past her until he had noticed Argo grazing nearby and then he ran back.

"Xena! Where are the bodies?"

"Excuse me, Joxer?"

"Oh! I mean, I was expecting . . ."

"What? Are you referring to the skirmish that I was called here for? It turned out they were not fans of Caesar and huge fans of mine. I spent the day signing autographs and nobody ever even set foot in that community. There was no danger except my hand falling off from signing autographs. I was more tired after that than that battle where I defeated an army of Persians."

"Funny, I thought that was someone else."

"Yeah." Xena wrinkled her nose. "The bards are lying about it being a small group of Greek warriors instead of the truth where no one was there except me, and . . ." Xena's eyes fell. "What are you doing here, Joxer?"

"I just wanted to know when you were planning on going back to Gabrielle?"

"Hm?" she asked distractedly. "Um, never I guess. I just averted the vision, but if I go back then it will continue again. I'm staying right here."

"Here? Under this tree? Forever?"

"That sounds good."

Joxer tried very hard not to roll his eyes. Xena tended to get dramatic when she was suffering. "Stop being stubborn. You know, Xena, Gabrielle could die just as much without you as with you. Callisto is playing bodyguard now. Callisto! Do you know how insane that sounds?"

"Hey, for all you know in some other reality, not hers but in some other one, Gabrielle and Callisto are close friends, and I'm the villain!"

"That's neither here nor there. Now, are you going to come back or are you going to stay here and wallow?"

"Stay here and wallow. Look, Joxer!" Xena exploded. "It's not my fault. It's all part of Alti's curse. I thought once she only cursed my son, Solan, but I think she cursed me. Look at what has happened. First, I am just this evil witch, as psychotic as Callisto. Then I find some kind of redemption, and I drag Gabrielle along for this ride. How many times have I almost failed her? I am cursed, and if I go to Gabrielle she will die. Better to keep my curse on me alone."

Joxer sighed. "That's what all of us warriors have to face, Xena. I don't think you're cursed, but life is unpredictable. As a warrior, is life dangerous? Yes! Is death sniffing after your heels in every battle? Of course! But that is the choice I made when I took on my calling. It's the choice you made when Cortez attacked your village. And, don't deny it, it's the choice Gabrielle took on the moment she couldn't stand the simple life in Potidaea. You didn't make that choice for her. She did. And she wouldn't have it any other way. She'd face the Fates themselves for you, and you know it, but that is her choice."

"No, it's not. I just made it mine. Joxer, go away."

"I'm not leaving until you do."

Xena's eyes gleamed like pure blue ice. "You know I've been meaning to practice a new pinch. A pain pinch that causes extreme pain in every part of your body."

"Sheesh! Okay, okay. I'll leave you alone. You are coming back to Greece though, right? Don't be like Hercules and leave your home behind."

"I do plan to go home, Joxer. Mom has been sending scrolls to me begging me to come Amphipolis. So, I'll at least stop there. After that . . . who knows?"

Joxer sighed and was about to say something again, when Xena's fingers twitched upwards. He thought it best to remove his neck from her near vicinity just in case her grief of leaving Gabrielle caused her to practice that pinch on him like she threatened.

Meanwhile, Callisto's attempts to get Gabrielle to talk were just as much of a failure as Joxer's. She and Gabrielle had both reached Lila's house with minimum battles. No one wanted to take on Callisto. Lila's house was a bit simple for Callisto's tastes. Of course, her home in the other reality was a marble temple with luxurious rugs placed on the floors. Lila's seemed to be previously a barn, and the smell of the domestic animals of burden still lingered.

Gabrielle didn't seem to care. Lila had welcomed her in, albeit a bit subdued, and now Gabrielle sat at a crude wooden table staring off in to space.

Callisto was starting to get sick of waiting for Gabrielle to say something. "How do you know you can't reason with her?" she finally exploded.

The bard however didn't even turn her misty green eyes Callisto's way. She just shrugged. "She didn't walk . . ."

"What in Tartarus does that mean?"

"Xena didn't walk in here and find me. She probably already finished that silly war by now. This is Xena we're talking about! She did it without me."

"What could you have done anyway? You're peaceful!"

"I have my peaceful ways!" Gabrielle defended. "I have that smoke compact that blinds the eyes."

"Oh real peaceful. As your enemy staggers with burning eyes, I'm sure they're saying, 'Oh how nice she didn't kill me!' It's better to stay out of the fighting if that's all you're going to use!"

"Gods above, you're as bad as Xena!"

Lila entered the room. She seemed a little nervous. It must have been because she didn't want Gabrielle to be so miserable, Callisto surmised, though that didn't make sense. It was bad enough Callisto had one of these sisters on her hands; she didn't need to ask what was making Lila so jumpy as well!

"Um, Gab . . . I'm sure Xena just isn't aware I have a house of my own. She's probably at Mother and Father's right now!"

"I doubt that," Gabrielle mentioned. "Look, it's very nice of you two to try to make me feel better, but the truth is obvious. I am now on my own. I need to have some privacy. I don't need you to see me cry."

"Seen it," Lila said. "Why don't you just go find Xena!"

"NO!" Gabrielle yelled, finally showing some spirit. "I am staying here forever!"

Lila turned pale. "Forever?" she squeaked.

"Please . . ." Gabrielle gasped. "Please just go away." 

Lila nodded and gestured Callisto out the door where both of them headed towards the yard. "Maybe give her some time," Callisto mentioned.

"Easy for you to say," Lila muttered but turned a bright face on Callisto. "Maybe you could do something! It seems like you're her friend. I know that you could figure out a way of getting Gabrielle out of my house—I mean, making her feel better."

"I'll give it my best shot. In the meantime, I have to go and meet up with Joxer again. He was supposed to help Xena fight that army, and I'm concerned with him." Callisto didn't want to admit that she was more than concerned. What if that vision of Xena's was true and it had happened in the last days?

To her utter relief, as she walked the road towards the next village she saw the telltale sign of dust that rose up with Joxer's rapid feet. As he ran up to her, she controlled her smile and made sure he only saw a nod. "It's about time."

"Actually, it's faster than I thought!" Joxer defended. "It turns out there was no war."

"And Xena?"

"Miserable. She said she'd practice a pinch on me."

"Wow, she is really in the dumps. Well, is she coming back?"

"Not anytime soon." Joxer sighed and fell into step beside Callisto, their legs walking in rhythm. "This is beyond frustrating. Xena believes she is cursed and she will continue to draw Gabrielle into it as long as she's with her. I tried to tell her Gabrielle could get hurt anytime anywhere, especially with a new Ares' number one every other day."

"That's it! If Gabrielle gets hurt, Xena will have to see that it's best to stay together!"

"Callisto," Joxer said patiently. "Gabrielle is in one of the most peaceful villages in the world now. Thanks to the reputation it's gotten, no warlord would dare target it again, because everyone knows it's under Xena's protection. Nothing will happen to her."

"That's not true," Callisto said with a wicked smile. "I get the feeling that a warlord might just target it soon, specifically Gabrielle."


	51. Chapter 51

Chapter 51

Xena had never felt quite this much darkness around her heart before. It sure had seemed like there was no other choice but to leave Gabrielle behind, but she realized now as she once again checked behind her as she walked Argo down the road to Amphipolis trying in vain to see that flash of blonde hair that always made the light go on in her world, how absolutely wretched her world was without Gabrielle by her side.

Still, Gabrielle was _alive_. Even with as dark a world as it was without her, it would be burnt and destroyed if Gabrielle was dead. As Argo plodded along once in a while giving backwards looks at her mistress, Xena just closed her eyes and tried to envision a lifetime of this darkness. Surely, it'd get easier . . . right?

"Xena!" a voice yelled and for only a split second, Xena's heart rose, imagining, hoping (praying) that it was Gabrielle. Reason quickly identified that voice as Joxer's. With an inner groan, she almost urged Argo to running but realized she couldn't outrun Joxer.

"What? Did you need something?"

"It's Gabrielle! She's been kidnapped!"

Xena couldn't receive this news . . . slowly but surely her heart turned to black ice as the information settled into her brain. "Kidnapped?"

"I went to visit her after I visited you, and you said she wouldn't get hurt without you, and then I talked to Lila and she said some masked figure bashed her door down and stole Gabrielle right out of the most peaceful village in Greece!"

Xena couldn't feel anything. Kidnapped! "And what about her bodyguard? What about Callisto?"

"Callisto thought she was safe, but really, Xena, you should have been there. Gabrielle hasn't fought recently, so she is weak. She stood no chance."

The black ice was slowly being replaced by bright flames of raging fire. "Where, Joxer?"

"Just a few miles east of Potidaea. I would have fought the masked figure, but I can't get in. The masked figure is using Ares' old cave. As you know, his son is forbidden from entering places like that. And Callisto was injured. Warrior priestesses aren't as formidable as warrior queens. I followed the figure to the biggest cave."

"Ares . . ." Xena spit out. "I thought he was MIA recently."

Joxer opened his mouth and closed it a few times. "Ares? No, just some goon using Ares' cave."

"Ha! I knew it was too good to be true that he'd leave me alone. He hasn't done one plot this entire year to get me back to his way. I was expecting an attempt. I just didn't know he'd use Gabrielle."

"Well, yeah, um, sure. Ares. It's a good strategy. Honestly I don't know why he hasn't done anything about Gabrielle earlier considering she's your reason for being good and all."

"He hadn't before because he knew . . ." Xena's eyes as light blue as they were seemed to flash like there was black fire burning in them. "He knew that if he targeted Gabrielle he'd be in for my full wrath, which he has just earned if he hurts her."

And with that Xena galloped off towards the cave. She almost wished she had a whip to urge Argo faster, not that she'd want to go to that extreme . . . A flash hit of when she had that strange experience of going to Illusia. In that vision, she had whipped Argo, and the very memory of how evil she had gone still made her heart ache. Now, to get to Gabrielle before Ares did anything permanent to her, she understood that version of herself from the vision.

Time was a funny thing. When Xena was around the campfire, listening to Gabrielle's quill scratching the parchment and she had just had a nice full meal, and no one was in danger, time went by so fast she could blink and miss it. But now, when Gabrielle's life was in danger, time went by so slowly. She counted every tree, watched for every road sign, felt every rock kicked up by Argo's hooves.

Time was mocking her. Somehow her greatest fears were being realized and she was responsible! At least with Hope, when Gabrielle had thrown herself in Xena's path to save her, Xena had been acting on the way she felt was right. She couldn't have prevented Gabrielle's sacrifice! But this time, she might as well have handed Gabrielle over to Ares.

"Go, Argo, go!" she urged.

Argo, as if sensing Xena's stress, whinnied and took on more speed, becoming a blinding flash across the landscape and soon enough the bumpy farmhouses grow on the horizon. She veered Argo left towards the further off caves, aiming for the gigantic mouth of the biggest. Without even pausing to take in any dangers, she rushed into the cave with her warcry, flipping hands over feet.

Nobody and nothing was in the darkness. But . . . there was somebody. A lone figure in yellow, shining in the dusk of the cave—unconscious or . . .?

"Gabrielle?" Xena asked. Her voice echoed in the cave, and even she could hear the fear in its tones. But Gabrielle couldn't . . . Ares wouldn't . . .

Oh, yes he would. He'd do it because he finally realized that Gabrielle was the key. Xena had worried ever since she had realized how much Gabrielle meant to her that someone, somewhere would figure out that without Gabrielle it'd be much harder for the Warrior Princess to stay on her track of righteousness. Sure, Xena would try. Of course she would! But with the weight of her darkness against her, the weight of an ever increasing evil world where the strong took what they wanted from the weak, and with Ares' constant appearances to remind her that she could change the world, Xena would fall like a king in an unwinnable game of chess.

"Gabrielle!" Xena said again rushing over to her friend. But Gabrielle wasn't responding. She had no breath . . . no movement beneath her wrists or neck. She was dead again. This time there was no hope. Xena knew that she'd never be allowed into the Amazon land of the dead again, and that was if Gabrielle would still go there. She had accepted her way of peace, which meant she had denied the Amazon part of her. That land wouldn't welcome her in. Who knew where Gabrielle would go now? Xena wouldn't be able to find her.

What she had tried to prevent had come to pass without her. Xena tried to sing her funeral dirge but it twisted into a scream.

It echoed around the cave as she clutched her friend.

Then she just sat there . . . thinking. Ares would get his way. Her path was doomed. Gabrielle had made her promise . . . How could she prevent that with Ares in her face all the time? Especially when he was the one who had done . . . . THIS! It was all him. His constant torment. He had ripped apart Xena's heart by pretending to be her father—had tormented her by taking her body and giving it to her archenemy. Had driven her mad with the Furies and had almost killed her mother. Betrayed her by joining up with Dahak.

But now . . . he did the worst thing possible, and he'd WIN?!

"No . . ." Xena muttered. She knew where Cronus had been buried. And his ribs could kill a god, even one of Ares' stature and power. "Ares, you made a mistake. I will never be yours, but you will be dead."

Meanwhile, Joxer felt a bit smug. Okay, sure, it wasn't too nice to see that horrible look Xena had gotten on her face when he had told her his lies, and he was glad he couldn't go into Ares' cave, but it looked like the plan was going nicely.

A masked woman suddenly jumped down next to him. "Give me your money!" she declared. "Or I will kill you like I killed Gabrielle . . . and Xena."

"Drop it, Callisto," Joxer replied. "For one, you never even attempted to kill Xena. That was this reality's Callisto. Two, she didn't even kill Xena. That was Talmic poison. And three you used Talmic poison on Gabrielle just now. You didn't kill her. Oh, by the way, she didn't see your face, did she?"

"No, I rushed into Lila's house, grabbed Gabrielle and ran out, all the while in mask. Once I reached the cave, I used that old crossbow and shot her with the dart. She went out like a light. She didn't see my face, and neither did Lila."

"Great! I certainly don't want Xena to ever realize we were behind this. Now, Xena will cry over Gabrielle's body. Gabrielle will wake up to see how much she means to Xena. They will agree that it's best and safer to stay together, and the duo will be reunited with no bloodshed—ours. Great plan, Callisto."

"It's the other me's doing. I don't even know how much I was supposed to use. I guessed on that part."

"You did what?" Joxer asked suddenly concerned. A heartbreaking scream flew from the cave. "Um, isn't she supposed to wake up by now? There should be no cry of utter despair coming out of that cave. How much Talmic poison did you use?"

"A lot. I wanted to make sure she was out. I coated that dart with like three inches of the stuff."

"Three inches . . ." Joxer's face drained of color. "Xena was out for a day and that was only an inch. What in the world did you do?"

"Nothing! Talmic poison isn't lethal! I guess we'll just have to tell Xena and come clean." Callisto sighed. "The best laid plans of gods and centaurs are often laid to waste."

Before they could continue though, Argo charged past them—Xena on her back, hair whipping out like a wave of black smoke. She paid no attention to either of them and in a few seconds the hoof beats faded to nothing.

"Uh, Joxer, shouldn't you go after her?"

"Did you see that expression on her face?" Joxer yelped. "She'll rip my spine out through my mouth if I confront her now. First, we have to get Gabrielle awake. Right now Xena believes her friend his dead, and we are responsible for that! First, let's fix this. Did I say it was a great plan Callisto? Because it was a horrible plan!"

"I'm beginning to think so too. What was the other me thinking?"

"She was a VILLAIN!"

Then Callisto ran into the cave to retrieve Gabrielle and the two headed back towards Lila's house who probably wouldn't be too happy to see them and find out the truth either.

Meanwhile, Xena was riding, riding, riding. She planned to kill a god this day.


	52. Chapter 52

Chapter Fifty Two

Lila's house so far had seen a fair amount of action in its days. The previous owners had weathered three storms and six plagues. Lila had just received it and so far it had been a peaceful place for her. But nothing this house so far had seen could quite match the screams of one sister who watched over her sister's body.

"You killed my sister!" Lila screamed. Joxer who had been on the receiving screams of both Xena and Callisto—oh, and Gabrielle, was far from impressed.

"We didn't kill her. We just knocked her out. Trust me, she's alive."

"Good! I'm just glad that Xena doesn't have possession of her. She'd probably burn the body."

"Burn the body," Joxer and Callisto agreed. "Then we'd never get her back," Joxer added.

"How can we get her back?" Callisto asked. "And how do we get Xena back to prove that Gabrielle is alive and well? Where was she going? I mean, I already know that she was going to get vengeance. I recognize that look all too well, but who against? We're the ones who . . ."

"Killed Gabrielle, I know!" Lila exclaimed. "It figures Joxer would mess this up."

"And I thought you liked me, too," Joxer said.

Lila looked uncomfortable. "That was when we were all at the inn together with that bounty hunter Ravenica. Now . . . well, never mind. The important thing here is saving Gabrielle!"

"Well . . ." Joxer was troubled. Xena hadn't thought that this was some random bandit. She thought Ares himself was responsible, which meant . . . "She's gone to kill Ares."

Callisto smiled. "And?"

"Well, that's what I'd do anyway," Joxer added, looking towards Lila. "Because I'm Joxer the Mighty."

"Ugh, that is getting so old!" Lila complained.

"Well, then, I'll leave you now, my good lady. Callisto, shall we see what we can do to stop a crazed Warrior Princess."

"You killed my sister!" Lila shrieked again.

"Just watch over her. She'll be fine, just not in a timely manner."

"But what about an antidote?"

Joxer paused. "Well, I've never heard of one. Except maybe from a god's hands. If you can deal with gods, then go for it, but you probably wouldn't get much from them without stealing. Look, there's no need. She'll be fine as long as you keep her warm. Let's go, Callisto."

The two of them rushed out of the wooden doors of Lila's house. Okay, fine, Joxer rushed. Callisto strolled.

"Come on, hurry!"

"Why? Xena can more than handle Ares. Personally, I can't wait for a new god of war to be chosen."

"You're looking at him," Joxer said. "Look, Callisto, forgetting the fact that someone dying for a crime he didn't commit isn't exactly just, if he dies, not only will the world go mad with uncontrolled anger, but as it settles down, I will take that title. I shudder at it."

"Why?" Callisto demanded again, resisting Joxer's attempts to pull her into his arms so he could run. "You'd be a much better god of war than that selfish narcissist."

"Callisto, you have to have the memories of your other self from here still. She turned even more whacko when she became a god. Before, all the normal desires rang true. She got distracted by mortality. But once she was a god, she lost her tether. Even revenge didn't really interest her anymore. She was downright bored!"

"Yeah . . . there is no point to life when immortality rages."

"Exactly. Now, I don't know what I'd become. But I don't want to find out! Maybe I'd be worse than Ares."

"I doubt that."

"I don't. Everything that Ares does is for his own belief in the greater good. If he rules the world, he can have peace, order. There would be no more evil, because choice itself to be evil would be wiped out. But . . . I believe in punishment. What would I believe if I became god of war? Would my wars be just? Or would they be vengeance?"

"You're right. I don't want to find out. Let's go." She hopped up into his arms and he started running.

Meanwhile, Lila stared at the lifeless body of Gabrielle, her only sister. It unnerved her in ways she didn't believe it would. It was so hard to believe that she was alive somewhere in that shut down shell. As the hourglass sands fell on her mantle, Lila's heart grew and grew.

"No! I won't wait for death to decide to claim her!"

Lila stormed out of the main room and pulled a rope that hung from the ceiling. It connected with a secret space of levers and pulleys. Suddenly the whole shabby farm room's wall spun and disappeared to reveal a room that was richer than even a god's temple. Lila was used to that, though.

She had already been a fence for stolen goods ever since Hope had pretended to be Gabrielle. Her own niece had tried to kill her. In that moment, when she was tied up and was looking into a monster's eyes, Lila had realized she needed to be self-sufficient. At first, she foolishly tried to follow Gabrielle's example and tried to find a warrior. She had instead found a thief named Malacious of Amphese.

He hadn't been Xena. He had given her a trade alright. He hadn't brought her under his wing. He had asked her to move some stolen goods. Lila had some contacts in her village who traveled all around Greece. So, Lila the fence, better as known as The Mover was born.

It was that background, that had made her meet Autolycus who asked her to move some diamonds he had stolen from Ravenica. Considering that bounty hunter had died right after he stole them, he wasn't willing to use his normal fences.

Ever since, Lila had moved up. She had more connections than anyone could ever believe. And she had never told Gabrielle. How could she tell her own sister, who seemed to be the mistress of peace and light, that her very own sister had made a living off the loss of others?

Lila couldn't even think about that now, though. Not when that sister lay in her house, battling a poison that some inept idiots used. In the center of all the riches was a dais holding a bracelet, carved of gold and had symbols of wings on it, a representation of Hermes.

"Autolycus!" she said and slipped the bracelet on. "Please, come to me."

With a flash of feathers, the very man she called popped into view. "Hello, my love. Did you need me?"

She hugged him to her, holding her face against his chest. "Did I get you away from anything important?"

"Now, now, Lila. I never hesitate when you call."

"Even with all the women on your routes?" she demanded. Everything had unsettled her.

"I am a sleaze in reputation only, my dear. I haven't been with anyone else since our first meeting. You know I love you . . . Wait, what's wrong? Your face is drawn and shadowed. I don't wish for that to be the case. What can I do?"

"Have you ever heard of a cure for Talmic poison?"

His eyebrows knit together as he thought. "I think no. But I do know there is a cure for any poison in Poseidon's kingdom. Why?"

Lila took his hand and dragged him to the main room, pointing to the golden, unconscious Gabrielle.

"Now, what has happened to her?"

"Talmic poison. Stupid Joxer and another reality's Callisto poisoned her to get Gabrielle and Xena back together. She was here for so long . . . Wait, speaking of which! I thought you were supposed to come back a week ago with the Chalice of Zeus."

Autolycus looked startled and then chuckled. "That's my partner. Still thinking of business."

"What am I saying?" Lila threw her hands to her face in horror. "Can you get that cure, please?"

"No need to ask. I'm on my way. It's lucky that I have recently found out my godhood parentage, which allows my quick transportation to your side. The only time I'll take will be swimming through the ocean. Then I'll be back in a flash."

"Have you talked to Hermes? Does he know that you're his son?"

Autolycus chuckled again. "Your mind can't focus on one thing, can it? But no. The god's an idiot. He can't even tell which way is up most of the time thanks to the plants he inhales on a regular basis. It's fine the way it is. I'd rather think of my father as the poor soul who died before I was born."

"Alright. There are more important things right now than for me to remind you why family is important. Go, go and find the cure for my sister. Go as fast as your father flies."

Autolycus gave Lila a quick kiss and then disappeared.

Lila closed up the secret room and went back to watching over Gabrielle. She was glad that Gabrielle didn't know how many secrets and lies Lila had stored up.


	53. Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Before Xena was on her way to kill Ares and before Joxer and Callisto were on their way to stop her, Gabrielle was sitting in Lila's house contemplating swallowing her pride and going to find Xena again. Of course, the issue wouldn't be solved, but how could Gabrielle spend a life without her soulmate?

But she couldn't make that decision as someone moved so quickly and ran in, grabbed Gabrielle from where she sat and started running towards the caves of Ares. What is it with me? Gabrielle thought as she was whisked away by some masked woman. She was indignant to be sure, but somehow she didn't really care. Xena had never come for her. She didn't care if Gabrielle was being carried off by an assassin right now. From the moment Gabrielle had met Xena her destiny seemed to have sung. Now it was a low wail. If she wasn't going to come back, then Gabrielle might as well be killed.

When the masked woman reached the caves, she dumped Gabrielle gently on the cave floor and ran off again. If Gabrielle had her old spirit, she would have jumped up and ran out of the cave. The woman hadn't even left a guard. But as it was . . . well, it was just as easy sitting here as it was sitting at her sister's house, who seemed more than eager to be rid of her, actually.

Suddenly, Gabrielle felt a pinprick pain shove its way into her neck. Groping wildly, she pulled a dart out of her neck which was covered in . . . Wait, Gabrielle recognized that smell! After Xena's near death or at least Gabrielle thought it had been, Xena had shown her the dart that Callisto had used to put Xena out of commission enough to put in action her plan.

Talmic poison! Gabrielle's mind worked even as her eyes fluttered closed. Callisto? Could she . . . be behind this?

Gabrielle groaned into unconsciousness. Her mind was as quick as a whip flew. She suddenly knew who was in that mask. It was kind of obvious with all the secrets recently. Oh, gee a woman with a mask appears and uses the exact poison as this reality's Callisto used? It didn't take Plato to reason out that Callisto and Joxer had decided to put their fingers into this mess and make Xena see that Gabrielle could get injured even without the Warrior Princess around.

Did they have to put me out of commission to do this? Gabrielle asked herself as her body thudded against the cave floor. With friends like these who needed enemies?

Though she couldn't move, Gabrielle still was aware as if a cotton ball had been wrapped around her entire body. But she was still aware when Xena showed up.

She came . . . Gabrielle thought woozily. Come on, Xena, get me out of here.

She didn't expect Xena's wail—which struck through her very bones, slicing them to ribbons. Gabrielle knew she meant a lot to Xena. Once Xena even said that Gabrielle was her source. But after the whole Hope debacle, she thought Xena couldn't possibly care about her anymore. Gabrielle's daughter was responsible for so much of Xena's pain.

Gabrielle never knew how deeply Xena would mourn her. Now, Gabrielle understood everything Xena had done recently. That was the reason why Xena was so against the death vision. Xena could die herself and still be happy as long as Gabrielle survived, but she couldn't stand it, couldn't live, breathe, or function if she knew that Gabrielle had died with her.

Oh, Xena, Gabrielle thought inside that cocoon. Don't you see? I feel the same . . .

But she couldn't do anything—couldn't say anything, couldn't even lift a finger to comfort Xena, to tell her that no matter what happened, they belonged together.

And as the minutes went on, Gabrielle knew . . . Something was wrong.

Xena left. And she was alone again.

Hours seemed to pass before Callisto came to retrieve her body.

"I'm so sorry, Gabrielle," she murmured. "I hope you can hear me. I put too much poison on the dart. Just . . . keep fighting, okay?"

Gabrielle was going to fight—that was for sure.

She was just afraid it might not be enough. Even now, the sheer amount of poison coursing through her body demanded shutdown—demanded death of all her limbs. And she held on.

But she was starting to weaken. She felt Lila's concern radiating in the room.

This was true torture. Not being able to comfort your loved ones as they mourned your body. Trapped inside your own skin as grief hurt the ones you were closest to. She'd rather have her arms chopped off or be shot full of arrows.

Darkness started overtaking her vision, so even the limited awareness went away.

Gabrielle was dying. She wouldn't make it. She just wasn't strong enough. Inside she cursed herself. Had she just been eating regularly, doing her yoga, strengthening her body and mind, she would have been stronger. Part of her even cursed her peace way. She wasn't supposed to be weak. She was supposed to be strong!

That was what she always wanted even when she was small and the other children would knock her down. But now she would be defeated. Not by a sword or chakram, but by her own self. She was destroying herself.

And she faded bit by bit.

Darkness . . . Oh, Xena, Gabrielle thought. I wouldn't choose this—I wanted to be by your side when I died. Then . . . light. Oh she recognized this—she was heading towards the Elysian Fields. Now that didn't make sense. Unlike the last time she had almost died, she wouldn't go to the Elysian Fields. Not with so many different lands who could claim her afterlife.

No . . . the light was only expanding. "Come on, Gabrielle," a masculine voice said. "You need to want to come back."

I do, Gabrielle thought but couldn't speak. I do! "I do," she croaked. Her eyes fluttered open to see an unexpected sight. "Autolycus? What?"

"Ah, the cure worked! Um . . ." He looked towards her sister. "You're lucky, Gabrielle. Your sister caught me, and I know an antidote to Talmic poison."

"Xena . . . I need to see Xena."

"Gabrielle!" Lila wailed and hugged her, letting her tears fall on Gabrielle's shoulder. "You're okay! Rest."

"No! I need to see Xena. She thinks I'm dead! You didn't hear her. I need to get to her now."

"You're way too weak to ride a horse," Lila pointed out. "Or ride in any wagon or chariot."

"But . . . I can't! I need to see Xena!" Gabrielle tried to sit up as if she was going to run off right there.

"Hold on, Gabrielle," Autolycus said with a sigh. "I know that look. I'll take you there. I have the ability to travel anywhere. Now, don't ask, I'll give you a somewhat complete report later and you can scribble away in your scrolls until your heart's content. For now, let's get you to Xena's side, okay?"

"Thank you, Autolycus, for everything. You are a good man. I don't think there's anything you could do which would make me hate you."

"Wait. The day's young yet," Autolycus replied looking towards Lila. "Let's go." He put out his hand and Gabrielle clutched it. Suddenly they were swirling, surrounded by feathers.

"Hermes," Gabrielle breathed. Though she didn't much have the old reverence she once held for the Greek gods, she still got a little thrill when their power touched her.

"Yes, Gabrielle. Now I have limits to my abilities and Ares' temple isn't where I can go. It's a long story, but Hermes blood and Ares have problems with each other. I'll have to drop you off at the door."

But she didn't have much time to dwell on it. This journey had lasted a blink of an eye. And that blink brought in a horrifying scene. Xena with all her rage was over Ares the God of War hoisting one of Cronus' ribs to kill him with. A lot of thoughts flew through Gabrielle's brain. Xena was going to kill over her—Xena who promised she wouldn't. If Ares died by her hand . . . the gods would not be happy. It was one thing with Apollo. It had been self-defense. He had signed his own death warrant by trying to take what he shouldn't have. The gods were sometimes monsters, but they had their rules. If mortals could defend themselves, they had every right to.

But whatever vengeance Xena was getting wasn't just. Gabrielle knew who had done this, and it hadn't been Ares!

But more than anything else she thought, one thing just blocked out everything else. Xena was here!

"Xena! Wait! I'm alive!" she yelled out, seconds before Xena shoved the rib into his heart. Ares was very lucky that Xena had reflexes honed in fire and steel. Centimeters away, the tip almost puncturing his breast, Xena stopped, turning to see the new arrival.

"What?" she asked, sounding far away, as the real Xena came back slowly, the one who knew this blond standing in front of her.

"It was Talmic poison."

"It was what?"

"NO! Stop, Xena!" yelled new voices. And Joxer and Callisto ran in. Joxer carried Callisto but practically collapsed as he struggled to a stop.

Xena's eyes narrowed. "Now wait a minute . . . Talmic poison? You two are here to stop justice. This isn't . . ."

"Yes, Xena, it was them," Gabrielle said shakily. "But we can talk about this all later. I really dislike Ares' temple."

"It's your own fault, blondie," Ares muttered. "You and your disgusting peace way hate anything to do with my great and wonderful war. Now can someone tell me why Xena just tried to kill me?"

"Besides the obvious reasons?" Joxer said looking sheepishly at the two. "Uh, hi, Gab. You look like you're feeling better."

"No thanks to you!"

"Let's get out of here," Xena sighed. "Joxer, I am going to kill you."

"Kill Callisto! She thought of it!"

"Nice way to throw me under the chariot, Joxer," Callisto muttered, but all were smiling as Xena lent Gabrielle a shoulder to lean on as they walked out, and Callisto lent Joxer one as well as he was still exhausted from his run. This one had drained him.

There was a lot to talk about here. Gabrielle really hoped that Callisto and Joxer wouldn't be too bruised after Xena was done with them. Oh, and after Gabrielle had one of her failures at the peace way and throttled her good friends.


End file.
